Finding What Was Lost
by something like human
Summary: xover. Duo takes WuFei to a strip club called Guilty Pleasures for his 21st birthday and gets the surprise of his life by one of the dancers there. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

For my twenty-first birthday, my Duo decided to take me out to a club. Not just any club, no, this was Duo Maxwell we were talking about. He took me to _Guilty Pleasures_ –a male strip club that specialized in the exotic. I am not talking about having different nationalities on stage; none of the men were human.

You see, shortly after the Eve's War, there was another revolution rocking the world. In a landmark court case, vampires were given rights as citizens in the United States and a few of its Colonies. This brought vampires, lycanthropes, and various other non-humans out of hiding and into the limelight. Many of them still hid – as their peers did in other parts of the Earthsphere, but here they were like Celebrities. Right here in St. Louis, the Master Vampire of the city was more recognizable to most people than the mayor!

But getting back to my birthday, Duo never lets it pass unnoticed. I think since he was raised on the streets of L2 and can not ever remember having a birthday, he feels that he has to go all out on mine. So he got reservations to _Guilty Pleasures _which mostly catered to a female crowd. I do not have a clue how he got us in. All I know is that I am trying not to look at the stage where a mostly naked vamp is moving to the music.

It is not that I don't appreciate the male form; it's just that I only do it in a bedroom where I am admiring my Duo. Maxwell on the other hand is on his feet waving credits in the air trying to lure the youthful-looking undead to our table. I take a moment to grab my overly enthusiastic partner's braid and yank him back down to his seat.

"Wha…" he squealed as he crashed back into his chair.

"Quit drawing attention to us," I snap at him. "It's bad enough we're the only male couple here but you don't need to advertise it."

"Geesh, Fei. Calm down. You made me drop my money," he chided me as he sank down to the floor to retrieve said money. As he was doing so, I noticed that the vampire had left the stage and the lights had gone down awaiting the next performer. The music started pumping, the lights flashed a few times and I could practically taste the anticipation in the audience. I think the headliner was supposed to come on now; some guy called Brandon.

When the stage lights flared to life, the headliner was already swaying to the music. I could not believe it – Duo was up there stripping. Well, not my Duo, he was still searching out his lost money on the floor but the young man on stage looked just like him. The only difference that I could tell at this distance was that his hair was in a ponytail – loose, not braided. The face was the same and the body size was similar. I would have to be closer to see if the man on stage had those same enchanting eyes. Ones that weren't exactly blue but more like lavender – the color of lilacs in the spring. He had to be a lycanthrope not a vampire; there was too much about him that was alive. The way he moved to the music just oozed sensuality. You could see the muscles moving under his skin as he stalked and strutted across the stage. There was a flush to his skin that suggested that he would be hot to the touch. Even under the stage lights the vampire dancers were pale and looked cold. Not this dancer, he was hot in more ways than one.

The music ended and the stripper gathered his shed clothing as he left the stage. The crowd had indeed gone wild for him. I was transfixed even as the last sway of his pony tail disappeared off stage. Maxwell had emerged from under the table at that point tossing his credits on the table. He had missed his doppelganger's performance completely. I was about to tell him what he had missed when a man appeared by the table. He was blonde and was wearing more skin than leather which I presumed was meant to be pants.

"Hello, gentlemen. I am Jason, Jean-Claude's _pomme_ _de sang_. I am to show you backstage to meet the Master of the City and owner of the club," he said quite formally although I did not miss the leer he was giving me. Something about the look on his face made me think that he would get along well with Duo. As I rose to my feet, I could see the slight shock on Jason's face when he laid his eyes on Duo. At least I was not the only one to notice the similarity Maxwell had to the stripper.

"Awesome show man!" My lover exclaimed as he bounced to his feet. He seemed quite oblivious to the looks this Jason was giving him.

"Thanks," the other man replied shaking himself back to reality. He starts to lead us back through the crowd and through some doors out of the auditorium. "Your accent is different, are you a colonial?"

"Yeppers. Good ole space stock for the both of us. Although lately, we've been planet side for the most part," my lover answered for the both of us as he had a perchance to do.

"Jean-Claude told me that you are both high ranking Preventers, which is why you're getting the VIP treatment."

"We're more like special ops than high ranking," I contend.

"Yeah, we're called in for special occasions," Duo continues. "Like when a job requires a special kind of insane to resolve it."

Jason laughs out loud at that. "You mean when things are so dangerous that only really good agents can handle it – or only the insane will try?"

"That's us in a nutshell. He's really good," Duo explains pointing to me. "And I'm insane."

Jason just laughs again and claps Maxwell on the back. "You're a riot man. What was your name again?"

"Duo Maxwell, at your service." He replied with much gusto and a little bow. "And this surly dragon over here is Chang WuFei."

"Surly?" I query while glaring at my lover.

"It was on the word-a-day calendar on my desk," he replies shrugging it off. I just shake my head and notice Jason doing the same thing.

"That's great," the blonde mutters mostly to himself. "Jean-Claude is right through these doors."

We went through the doors and into the office of _Guilty Pleasures_. It was not at all what I expected it to be. I'm not quite sure what I anticipated but a normal desk, chairs and other office paraphernalia were not it. Although, once fully into the office, it was very hard to look at the furnishings. The room's occupant's mere presence just demanded one's full attention. The vampire was perhaps the most attractive man I had ever laid my eyes upon. The way the black pants looked poured on over his thighs that rose out of knee high boots, or the delicate spill of white lace at the wrist of each hand, or the glimpse of pale flesh peaking through the laces across his chest that held the shirt together were all enough to take my breath away. I did not even chance looking at his face for fear of falling into his eyes. It was common knowledge that they could be spell you with their eyes but I was not sure if believed it or not – but I was not taking any chances.

"Damn!" I heard my lover say with such enthusiasm that he made the word have two syllables.

"Mon Deiu," the vampire muttered. I wondered briefly if he was aware of the similarity Duo had to one of his dancers. My speculation was cut short by his quick recovery. "Good evening and welcome to _Guilty Pleasures_. I am Jean-Claude and you must be Change Wu Fei and Duo Maxwell."

He made a sweeping, theatrical bow that I could tell was more from custom than theatrics. He was probably old enough to come from a time when Westerners actually did show respect. I bowed in return, noticing that Maxwell bobbed his head slightly. That was about all one could expect to get out of the crass American. When I straightened up again, I glanced back at Duo and noted that his eyes ere darting around the room; he was checking his surroundings and avoiding eye contact with the vampire.

"Monsieurs, I promise you that I will not try any vampire tricks on you. You don't have to act like rabbits running from wolves," Jean-Claude said.

Jason then wrapped his arms around our shoulders from behind us. "Unless you want this wolf to chase you, that is."

"Well buddy, I don't know how enjoyable that chase will be when you find out that these bunnies have got big, pointy teeth," Maxwell responded in his overly cheerful voice that told me that he was doing something dangerous. I could also tell from the werewolf's stiffening posture that something was up. I took a step out from under Jason's arm and looked back. Duo had one of his knives lying against the bare skin of Jason's torso.

"You two weren't kidding when you said that you were good and insane," the were laughed. "Too bad it's not silver."

"It's gundanium, never tried it against nonhumans. It seems to kill everything else well enough, so I wouldn't chance it if I were you."

Before Duo could test his theory, Jean-Claude laughed. I don't even know how to explain that laugh. It was nothing like Duo's joyous guffaws and no where near as frightening as Yuy's maniacal cackles. It was somewhere in between the two. All at once that laughter made me feel warm and happy while it also scared the hell out of me. The vampire's laugh felt like it rolled through my body and held promises of passion and pleasure. It was so inhuman that it frightened me more than a battle with mobile dolls.

"Whoa," Maxwell explained while he put his knife away. "I'd ask you to do whatever you did with your voice again but I don't think I could get Wu Fei into private before I could finish what that laugh of your started."

"You two are a riot!" Jason chuckled.

"Indeed they are," the master vampire replied. There was a knock on the office door before he could say any more. Jason turned around to answer the door while Jean-Claude looked Duo up and down again. I really wanted to ask something about the dancer I had seen but I did not know how to start.

"The party's here, the entertainment has arrived!" Jason crowed behind us. When I turned to look, I could see him ushering in a few of the club's dancers. They were thankfully more fully dressed than when I had last seen some of them. As I scanned the small group, my eyes locked on to a set of purple irises. I could hear Maxwell talking with one of the dancers that had come in. The other man had a British accent which my partner was emulating poorly. I could not take my eyes off the doppelganger. The dancer though, seemed to be transfixed by Maxwell. I don't blame him – it is not everyday that you encounter someone who looks just like you.

After a moment, Duo seemed to sense that someone was starring at him. His conversation with the other dancer trailed off as he looked around. When his gaze stopped at the as of yet, quiet dancer that looked just like him, his mouth opened some in what appeared to be disbelief. They starred at each other in silence for a moment while everyone in the room looked on. The dancer nervously licked his lips and in a small voice said questioningly, "Nicky?"

Duo's lavender eyes got as wide as saucers. He flicked his glance to me briefly before he bolted out the office door. I tried to stop him but I couldn't push through the small crowd of people gathered in the office. I called his name but knew it wouldn't make him turn around. Duo Maxwell runs and hides. That's what he does best.

Tbc.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the Gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (The usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

"Let me out," I exclaimed. I wanted to run after Duo; we were in a strange city and who knows where my partner would try to hide. I was stopped though by a cool hand on my shoulder.

"Non," Jean-Claude told me. He turned to the blond stripper at my side, "Jason, go."

"I need…" I tried to explain what I wanted but stopped when my eyes met the dark blue eyes of the vampire. For a brief moment, I was calm again and compliant. I wanted to stay in the office. By the time that I shook the feeling off, Jason had already sprinted out the door. "Damn you," was all I could say to the vampire.

"I apologize, but mon loup is faster than a human and he can, how do you say, sniff out and track your friend."

"Fine," I said sounding a bit more petulant than I would have liked to. I could not logically argue with his logic but it did not mean that I liked the situation. The least I could do is try to figure out who the stripper with my lover's face was and why he called him by another name. I walked up to the violet eyed stripper and glared up into his eyes. "Care to explain what is going on?"

The stripper seemed to cower under my glare. It was rather disconcerting since I had never imagined that I would see a look of fear in Duo's face. This stranger with my lover's face almost seemed to shrink next to me even though, like Duo, he was taller than me. To see him afraid like that, made me feel bad. For a moment, my heart overran my brain and I reached out to touch him on the arm to sooth his fears as if he were in fact Duo. My movement startled him and he jerked away from me. I tried again and rubbed my hand down his arm in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry, I was a bit harsh. I just want to know who you are and what made Duo run away like that."

"My, ah, name is Nathaniel Graison," the stripper stuttered. He still did not meet my eyes. It was so disturbing to see this meek thing that looked so much like my bold partner. Now that I was closer, I could see just how close their appearances were. The only difference I could find was that Nathaniel did not have the laugh lines that Duo had. His eyes still held the weight of experiences greater than his age but they did not have the same hint of joy.

I wanted to comfort him the way I would if it were Duo with that look on his face. I refrained though; I may have become more open with my feelings as I grew up but I still had lines I would not cross. Nathaniel's lavender eyes finally lifted to look over my shoulder at the door behind me. I turned to see a petite woman with angry, black eyes. I turn instinctively to put myself between the dangerous looking woman and this seemingly helpless version of my lover.

"Someone want to explain why I just saw Jason chasing Nathaniel out of the club?" She barked at the room. "And who the hell is this?"

Before I could explain myself to the very rude woman, Nathaniel went to her side and practically wrapped himself around her. She did a double take but wrapped her arm around the stripper. She was still glaring at me though as if whatever she though had happened was my fault.

"Ma petite," Jean-Claude crooned. "As you can see, your cat is here and safe. The young man you saw Jason chasing is still a mystery to us. Monsieur Chang here is his partner, but we have yet to find out exactly who he is and why he looks strikingly like Nathaniel."

"So," the woman replied. "What the hell is going on, Mr. Chang?"

I looked her in the eyes for a moment. They were hard and angry eyes; she was a killer. That was certain. Her dark eyes reminded me of my own back during the wars when I was angry at everyone for taking away everything that I had ever loved. I wondered who had been taken away from her to be that angry. The rage I saw in her eyes awakened the ghost of my own well of anger. I let her see that ghost in my eyes before I closed them and took a calming breath. I answered her when I had regained my center.

"The man you saw running out was my partner, Duo Maxwell. He and I are Preventers on leave and he wished to celebrate my birthday by coming here. Other than that, I have no idea what is going on."

"I think he's Nicholas," Nathaniel said drawing the woman's attention to him.

Shock was apparent on the woman's face. "Are you sure?"

The stripper nodded, "He ran when I called him Nicky."

"Who the hell is Duo Maxwell, Chang?" she growled as she took a step towards me.

"Anita," the vampire said sharply. "WuFei here is as innocent in this as Nathaniel."

I did not want to tell this Anita anything. She did not have any right to pry into his life. However, looking at her and Nathaniel, I could easily see that what she was really doing was trying to help him. I still did not like talking about Duo without him here but if we were ever going to get anywhere with this, I would have to say something. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Maxwell's a war orphan from a colony in the L2 cluster. As far as I know, he has no recollection of his family of origin and spent most of his childhood on the streets of the colony."

"So then why does he look so much like Nathaniel that he could be his long lost brother?"

"Because I might be?" Duo suggests as he walks back into the office. His face is slightly flushed from his run but other than that he appears unharmed. "I'm not saying that I am, it's just you seem familiar to me, ya know?"

I nod at him and he grins at me. It's not his happy smile but neither is it his manic grin that he uses as a mask. I can tell that he is okay but still upset.

Jason saunters in behind Duo. "Exactly what kind of training do they put Preventer's through anyways? Man this guy can run!"

"Hey, I run and I hide!" My partner replies with a wink.

"Talk about hiding, I would have never found you back that alley if I couldn't have smelled you. Whatever cologne you're wearing, I'd love to get some. That stuff smells good."

I was looking back and forth between Jason and Maxwell. I just had to shake my head and wonder if the world could handle the two of them. The thought of there being two Duo's made me look back over at Nathaniel. He had stepped away from the comfort of Anita's arms and was starting towards his double. The room quiets as he nears. Maxwell bit his bottom lip and cocked his head to the side as he regarded the man that was his mirror image. They both stare at each other as the clock on the wall ticked away the seconds.

Nathaniel licked his lips. "WuFei told me that your name is Duo and that you're a war orphan. Do you remember anything before that?"

"Um, yeah, that's me. Even though Fei-fei should learn not to talk to strangers," Duo teased. "But really, I don't remember anything other than being on streets of L2 with the other children. I know I should remember more than that, like how I got there, but it's all blank. I mean, I was on the streets for a long time before I even got a name. I didn't even remember having one."

"How can you not remember your own name?" The Anita woman exclaims.

I watched as a haunted look passed over not only Duo's but Nathaniel's eyes. I was beginning to understand that this Nathaniel had about as rough of a life as my lover had. It was the more timid one that answered her though. "When your life is only surviving the next few minutes on the street, it's very easy to forget who you are."

Jean-Claude glided over to the two of them and draped his arms around them. Nathaniel molded himself to the master vampire's side. Duo relaxed slightly at the contact – he's always been one to draw comfort from physical contact. He stiffened again when he realized just what it was that was next to him.

"I think this is a conversation better suited for private and comfort," his accented voice crooned.

"The quiet room should be empty by now," Jason suggested as he opened the office door for the vampire. "I'll make sure that you are not disturbed."

We followed the very attractive vampire through the club to what I assumed was the quiet room. It was a simple room that held a few lamps and couches. Duo plopped himself down on one of the plush couches and sighed. Jean-Claude gave some instructions to Jason and a youngish looking vampire that was with him about bringing refreshments. Anita sank down in a couch opposite of Duo. With a grace that was not humanly possible, Nathaniel lowered himself to the floor and leaned against the woman. She reached down and gently stroked his long, loose hair. Jean-Claude came and sat by her other side as I placed myself next to my partner. It disturbed me to see Duo's double sitting on the floor like a fondly regarded pet.

This whole night was not making much sense to me. One thing however was starting to become apparent. As Duo would say, I would bet money that Nathaniel was some flavor of lycanthrope. Seeing as he was one of the club's dancers, it would fit. He was definitely not a vampire; he was too alive for that. It really made me wonder just who this Nathaniel Graison was and if he truly was tied to Duo in some way.

To be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now ^_~)

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter — Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams

.Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male…. ^_~

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

This is for Kirallie who has found this fic just about everywhere it was posted and continues to remind me that at one time I wrote fanfic that at least someone liked. Btw: you've missed a few places this story was posted. .

We sat in silence for a few minutes; I think that everyone was caught up in their own thoughts. I was regarding each of the three on the couch across from us trying figure out what exactly was going on between them. Duo was starring off into space completely lost in either his fragmented memories or his thoughts - I don't know which. Jean-Claude was turning his gaze between both my lover and the lycanthrope seated on the floor. He continued to appear mildly amused by the whole situation. The woman, Anita, was just glaring at Duo as if he had stolen Nathaniel's face for nefarious purposes.

"So what are you two doing here?" The woman asked in a not so civil tone. "I find it hard to believe that it was such a coincidence that you show up here randomly and run into Nathaniel."

My partner was still starring off towards a corner and worrying his braid in his hands so I spoke up for the both of us. I did not give them the whole truth because I did not want them to know that we were actually working in the city but were on leave just for the night. "I said before, we are just on leave and passing through. It is my birthday and Duo thought it would nice to go out and he was the one that bought us the tickets for tonight. I had no idea who Nathaniel even was until tonight nor do I believe that my partner did either. He told me got the tickets on recommendation from some of the women we work with."

It was hard not to hear the recommendations from our female coworkers. They had all seen the show numerous times. Sally had been the first to go surprisingly and was soon taking any one and everyone that had an interest with her any time they were nearby. None of them had mentioned anyone looking like Duo but I could very well see that if they were sitting in the general admission seats, which were further back from where we had been sitting, then it would have been harder to see his face while he was on stage. Then again, knowing those women, I highly doubt that they even saw his face.

"On leave? From where? Who do you work for?"

"Ma Petite, they are Preventers," the vampire told her in a soothing tone. "They are special ops and were to be my guests tonight."

"Lovely, like the FBI but nosier and can claim jurisdiction anywhere. You've had Preventers in the club before, why are these ones your guests tonight? You've never done that with the other ones."

"Let us just say that these two were far more interesting than the others," he explained to her. "What? Just because they are two male Preventers who enjoy looking at other guys strip?"

"Non," he actually looked right in her eyes for a moment and she did not flinch away but met his gaze unwavering. They had obviously a more equal relationship than I assumed. "They are interesting because their background checks came back cleaner and even more vague than your friend, Mr. Forrester."

"Oh," she replied. "How clean?"

"It is as if they did not exist before AC 196 where they just appear at age 16 as special ops in the Preventers," the vampire turned his gaze back towards Duo and I. "I found it intriguing that two so young would find themselves in such an elite group of high ranking military operations."

"Were you wondering if they were preternatural beings of some sort and curious as to what they were?" Anita queried. She was quick to make connections but I guess that was why she had been listed as one of the police contacts to use locally if we ran into a dead end in our investigation. "They do not feel like they are lycanthropes or vampires or anything really. They feel completely human but more powerful somehow. What are you?"

"We're human, completely so. I don't know if the differences you are sensing are because we're from the colonies," I suggested. I really did not know what she meant by seeming more powerful. "I assure you that we are nothing out of the ordinary. It's just that we were grandfathered into the Preventers after the Wars, just as you were with the Federal Marshals, Ms. Blake."

"I don't think I was born on the colonies," Duo said quietly. He turned his head towards me and smiled weakly. "I have always vaguely remembered being on a transport, I think from Earth, and running away from it as soon as it hit port. It's all very fuzzy but I had been told that when some of the other street kids found me, I had bandages around my head like I had a head wound that was almost healed."

"Nicky was being beat by our father the last time I saw him," Nathaniel spoke up. His voice was still very timid no matter how much it sounded like my partner's there was a distinct difference in how he spoke. "I saw him get hit over and over; his blood went everywhere in the living room. He told me to run, and I did. I never saw him again. I had been told he died from the head wounds he received."

"That's horrible!" I exclaimed before I caught myself. I had always had a hard time listening to Duo talk about the abuse children on the streets had recieved and had never been comfortable hearing about cases involving child abuse.

"Nathaniel," Anita spoke softly to the young man at her feet. She continued to stroke his hair affectionately as she asked him her question. "I thought that you had told me that Nicky was older than you were and that was why he was protecting you."

"He was older than me. We were only 11 months appart in age though so at the time, he seemed a lot older to me than I was but now that we're adults, that really is not much of a difference, is it?"

"Duo, how old are you?" She asked him with surprisingly the same gentleness that she used with Nathaniel.

"My record states 21 doesn't it?" He replied with a wink. "I'm legal for anything you have in mind." I took the opportunity to smack his arm for behaving so crassly. Jean-Claude started laughing again causing us all to shiver. He actually made great theatrics to wipe a tear away from his eye after he laughed.

"Are you sure he is not Jason's brother? He sounds just like mon loup!"

tbc.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything that moves...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Anita's POV.

"Are you sure he is not Jason's brother? He sounds just like mon loup!"

"Nope," Jason said re-entering the room with some bottles of water and offered them to everyone in the room that had a pulse. "I don't think the world could handle more than one of me. I'm a little worried about handling two Nate's! Then again, if we could get Duo here up on stage with his brother, that would sell out the place! Maybe even do a doubles show with Gregory and Stephen."

"I don't think you'd want me to strip," Duo interjected. "I've got too many scars from the war to be considered attractive by your audience."

"You'd be surprised how attractive scars can be," Jean-Claude argued. I knew what he meant. Our Asher, Jean-Claude's male vampire lover and another one of my lovers as well, was scarred over half of his body by religious zealots wielding holy water. Sometimes just seeing him would make me weak in the knees.

The young men from the Preventers left not long after that. I can't say that I was pleased that we left them walk out of Guilty Pleasures without answering all of our questions. Nathaniel looked almost hurt that Duo, the one who he thought might be his beloved brother Nicky, just left. I was able to get them both to give me their cards with contact information. I realized that it was not their personal contact information but their professional ones. It really seemed to me that they were both hiding things and being overly protective of themselves.

Did I believe that Nathaniel's doppleganger was really his long lost brother? I'm not really sure. I was itching to see what my Federal Marshal and other not so legal contacts had to say about these two impossibly young Preventers. I had not had a lot of contact with Preventers despite being a Marshall myself. They had seemed to stay out of the preternatural community so far. From hearing talk from the local police and the FBI though, I figured that it was only a matter of time before they stuck their nose in with the liscenced vampire executioners.

I just really could not wrap my head around their ages being so young or the fact that Jean-Claude said that their records were cleaner than Edward's. They had mentioned the war several times which gave the impression they fought in it. That would have made them very young, maybe fifteen years old during the first war. That thought made me very angry. There is no circumstance where it was okay for a child to be in a war.

"Jason," I looked right at him. "I want you to carefully slip those water bottles those Preventers drank from into a plastic bag. I'm going to run them for prints. I'll be right back though. I'm going to make a phone call first."

I ducked out of the room to make a phone call.

"Anita," the voice on the other end of the phone greated.

"Edward," I replied smiling. "I have some people I'm trying to get some information on."

"I can't guarantee anything," he replied. "Is something going on?"

He implied something dangerous which was usually why I called him. We weren't much for social phone calls. "We had two Preventers at Guilty Pleasures tonight. I need you to tell me if you know anything about them. Jean-Claude said that they were really high ranking."

"I don't know many Preventers, Anita. I tend to steer clear of them. Why do you want to know about them?"

"Jean-Claude ran their records. They're cleaner than yours, he claimed. That has me worried," I explained. "Duo Maxwell and WuFei Chang. Those names mean anything to you?"

The phone line went quiet for a full minute. I was worried that I had lost connection with Edward until he sighed. "You always find the most interesting playmates, Anita. Why were they in the club? And what do you want to know about them?"

"So you do know them?" I asked.

"I haven't met them personally. They're names are known among certain circles though," he explained.

"What circles? They mentioned the war a few times and they appeared to be high ranking Preventers. Just what were these boys during the war?" I asked. I was getting tired of his avoidance of answering my questions.

"They were the war, Anita." He answered. I wouldn't call it an answer, really. I still did not know what he was talking about but it appeared that he was not going to give me any straight answer. "What were they doing in the club?"

"Celebrating Chang's birthday," I explained.

He laughed. "No really, why are you concerned about them if they were just there enjoying the show?"

"Were you aware Duo Maxwell looks just like Nathaniel?"

"I wasn't. I've never actually seen their pictures. They're identities have really been kept under wraps."

"Edward, you are making me really worried about those boys," I warned.

"I'll fly in tomorrow," Edward stated. "Keep them around. I've always wanted to meet one of those boys."

"You say that like there are more of them," I intoned. He was really starting to piss me off at his vagueness.

"There's a few. I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

I hung up. I was worried about those two boys before I called Edward. Afterwards, I was very concerned. They felt dangerous for humans. The look Chang had given me when we were first talking spoke volumes. His eyes were killer eyes. He had that same empty place I had. He had killed and killed a lot. I was scared to think if the other boy, the one who looked like Nathaniel, had eyes like that. I don't know if I could bear looking into lavender eyes that were cold and dead like that.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything that moves...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Back to WuFei's POV)

I answered my ringing phone at 6 am. I was pretty sure that I was still off on vacation today but I answered it anyways. I growled a greeting without even looking to see who it was. It was the day after my birthday and I could be cranky if I wanted to be, especially when someone called early.

"Chang, want to tell me why someone in the St Louis police ran your prints last night?"

Lady Une seemed to be just as cranky was I was. I knew there was a reason I always hated the day after my birthday. It always sucked.

"Just mine?" I asked trying to figure out what was going on.

"Maxwell's, also," she clarified. "I know you two were out celebrating your birthday at a strip club of all places last night but really, you of all people I would not have expected to get picked up by the local police."

"We weren't picked up by the police and honestly even Maxwell had the decency to behave himself last night."

"Then what's with the prints? You know you guys are flagged so we can run interference as soon as something comes up on the system. I just need to know what to plan for," she explained. She really did not seem happy about this.

"Look, we did have a run in with the local Federal Marshall last night," I told her. I looked over at my still sleeping partner. I envied him and his ability to sleep though my phone ringing. Unless he was on 'mission mode', he slept like the dead. "She got interested in us because Duo happens to be a deadringer for one of the dancers at the club whom she is close with. I don't get it either. She seemed rather suspicious of us and I wouldn't doubt that she'd run our prints as soon as we walked out of there."

The line was quiet for a minute, uncharacteristically.

"I see you met Anita Blake then," my superior finally responded.

"Yes, that was the one. We also met the club owner whom if I'm not mistaken is the head vampire in the area," I stated. I almost shuddered thinking back to last night with his silky voice and those tight leather pants. I had to take a calming breath. That man, I mean vampire, just oozed sexuality.

"I see."

"You don't sound happy," I replied.

"Well, you kind of threw a wrench in my plans. We've had our eye on St Louis and their 'Executioner' for a while now. Our plan was to get Marshall Blake contracted with the Preventers. As you know, we are sorely lacking in the area of preternatural defense. We could use her expertise."

"She's a killer and very hot tempered," I stated. I had looked in her eyes last night. They had a depth of hate and anger that ran hot. I would know, my eyes still take on that look from time to time. I had calmed down considerably since the war. Duo had helped a lot with that. Finally greiving my wife and my colony also helped.

"We have an eye working with her security detail at one of the clubs. He's in but not very far," Une told me. I had a feeling I knew who it was. "If you and Maxwell could talk to her some more maybe convince her to at least open the line of communication between her and the Preventers, that would really help."

"I'm not sure I want to push her trust with that. She seemed very defensive last night."

"Why was she defensive?"

"You know how I said that Duo looked like one of the dancers?"

"Yes. You mentioned it."

"It's uncanny."

"Really?"

"Seems that the stripper has a long missing brother, too."

"Intriguing," she said. "Want me to run some names or prints for you two? See if this kid's story checks out?"

"That would be helpful. His name is Nathaniel Graison and his brother's name was Nicky."

"I'll see what I can turn up."

"I'm going to ask Sally to run some DNA for us while we're in town," I said. Duo and I talked about that last night. He seemed like he all at once wanted it to be true to actually have family and at the same time was afraid of it.

"That would be wise," she replied. "I'll have you two temporarily transferred to that branch starting next week so you can do the recruiting end for me though. That way, if the kid really is Duo's family, then you can stay longer."

"Thank you, Lady."

"Don't forget to do you job though."

"You know that I won't," I replied. I still didn't like recruting while we were still sorting out what was going on with Duo.

"Don't blow our spy's cover. He's at the Circus in case you run into him."

"Why do I somehow know exactly who you have there?"

"Because you're a smart Agent, Chang," she laughed. "I'll send you what information we can dig up."

I hung up and realized that Duo had woken up during our conversation. I told him what was going on and he just shrugged. I crawled back in bed with him and shut off my phone. The day after my birthday usually sucked but that did not have to be a bad thing especially if my Duo was involved.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything that moves...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Duo's phone rang later in the morning. We had just been lazing around the apartment by that point. Well, if being lazy meant looking at the data files that Lady Une had sent us on Mr. Graison. It seemed that the kid, who had just turned 21, had quite the record. He had been picked up several times for prostitution and drug charges before he even reached 18. Then he was barely a blip on criminal records. It seemed something straightened him out. He was listed as a lycanthrope but it didn't mention what kind.

"Good morning!" Duo chirped into the phone. "Yeah, we slept fairly well, how about yourself?"

"Who?" I whispered to my partner. Duo mouthed back 'Nathaniel'.

"I see Marshall Blake ran our prints last night," he paused listening to the stripper's explanation. "I'm not mad, just amused. We were actually running your name this morning through our data base so I guess that we're even."

I laughed at his candor and went back to reading the reports. We couldn't find much on the Graison boys as children. It seems that for the longest time, they had slipped through the cracks of the child protective services. Their father was listed as dead when they were toddlers. Their mother had remarried but had died herself of a drug overdose not long afterwards. Their stepfather was listed as their legal guardian. That was where the record got really sketchy. Just before Nicholas' 6th birthday, there was a medical record of him behing taken to the hospital with a headwound but no other records. The only thing that followed was a Child Protective services record for Nathaniel, a list of foster homes longer than my arm which led to his arrest record as a teenager.

"We're meeting him and Jason at the park near HQ in an hour," Duo said plopping down beside me where I was reading on my laptop. "He agreed to the DNA testing and would like to meet for lunch. It seems that his girlfriend Anita doesn't want him alone with us. Jason is doing babysitting duty today. It took some convincing for him not to actually have a security detail on him. Who are these people?"

"They are tied to the Master of the City," I conjectured. Preternatural politics were not something I knew much about. "It just may be how things are run."

I let Duo read the rest of the report while I got ready. I decided to try to look less intimidating than normal. I knew when I was dressed for work in my uniform with my hair pulled back that I could look downright scary. I really did not want the kid to be afraid of me. Duo only looked scary when he had taken on his Shinigami persona. I dressed casually and left my hair loose. Duo liked it that way especially since it had grown much longer since the war. I kept it back for work usually which created a game with him at trying to steal my hairtie in the office.

We met at a bench in the park. Nathaniel and Jason were both dressed rather casually in jeans and tshirts. Nathaniel actually wore his long hair in a braid which made the resemblence even more striking. Duo was dressed in mostly black with black jeans and a black button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It reminded me of how he dressed during the war. I recognised it as his way of comforting himself. He no longer wore the priest's garb as he did back then but when he was nervous, the dark clothing would come out. His double's clothes were much brighter with a violet tshirt that really matched the color of their eyes.

We all exchanged pleasantries and sat on one of the park's benches. I noted that there seemed to be a number of people in the park for it being the middle of the day. Several of the people walking around or lounging on benches reading the newspaper seemed a bit hypervigilent. Most of them were large and their body language just screamed bodyguard. It appeared that they did not come alone after all. Well, it wasn't like we weren't armed if something were to happen.

Duo engaged Jason in talking about what it was like to work at the strip club. Jason, for his part, kept the conversation going while Nathaniel was very quiet. The young man in question seemed to take physical comfort in his friend sitting beside him but kept his attention on my partner.

I excused myself to go find Sally Po who had just texted me. I had set up to meet her to get the DNA samples. I had not told her who the samples were going to be on. I really wanted to see her reaction to Duo and Nathaniel.

"Thanks for stopping by, Sally," I said in greeting.

"I'm a little confused by this request," she said walking up to me. She had just run out of the headquarters and was still wearing her lab coat. She had left fieldwork a while ago and had been working strictly medical and pathology since then. "You two are on vacation for your birthday, what do you need two DNA tests for? Happy belated birthday by the way."

"Thank you," I replied. "If you'll just follow me over here, then you'll see what I need those tests for."

As we walked, she of course had to tease me about my hair being down. I joked with her and led her to believe that Duo had stolen my hair tie again. She did not need to know that I actually didn't mind having my hair loose. It would make yelling at Duo in the office look suspicious if she knew.

We rounded the corner on the path in the park and she stopped dead in her tracks. Two sets of violet eyes had turned to watch her approach. Sally's mouth dropped open and she turned to look me in the eye very quickly before turning back to Duo and Nathaniel. Jason, started laughing at the expression on her face. I just pushed the woman forward towards the bench and all three of them rose to greet her.

"Sally, this is Jason and Nathaniel," I said nodding to both of them in turn. "This is Dr. Sally Po."

She mechanically shook their hands but barely gave a glance to the blond. She could not seem to tear her eyes away from Nathaniel and Duo. The former seemed a bit disturbed by the attention and was shrinking back next to his friend while the latter was starting to get very amused by her reaction.

"Fei, you were naughty and didn't actually tell her why we needed her assistance today," Duo scolded. I just shrugged. It wasn't every day that one could pull something over on Sally.

"I feel kind of put out!" Jason lamented. "You bring a beautiful lady doctor to meet me and she won't even look my way! It was bad enough having girls drool over Nate and his impossibly long hair and those unnaturally colored eyes but having to compete wtih two of them is just unfair!"

Jason tirade seemed to pull Sally out of her trance. She turned to me and poked me in the chest. "What is going on here?"

I finally couldn't take it any more and just laughed out loud which she did not take kindly to. I collected myself again and explained to her, "We met these two at the club last night. The one you recommended. It seems you didn't warn us that one of the dancers looked familiar."

Sally turned back to look at both Jason and Nathaniel. "I had seen this one dance," she said pointing to Jason. "But not him."

"His shows tend to sell out," Jason replied affecting a fake pout. "So he tends to work on the weekends. I get more of the week day shifts. I get no love. "

Nathaniel looked at his friend and finally broke his silence. "That's not true! Your shows do very well, too."

"Why do... do they look alike?" Sally asked.

"That's why you're going to do a DNA test. It seems that Nathaniel over here has misplaced a brother through Child Protective Services about 15 years ago and Duo has no memory before he was about 6 years old," I finally explained to the perplexed doctor.

"That may explain the healed skull fracture we found on your last CT scan," Sally said turning to Duo. "I had suspected it was from early childhood but you couldn't remember getting it."

"Your discretion would be greatly appreciated," I intoned to Sally. "It's not that we're trying to hide anything, it's just that we don't need unnecessary attention drawn to these two."

"I'm hurt that you wouldn't want to be associated a cute puppy such as me!" Jason joked slinging an arm around my shoulders. I stopped myself from glaring at him.

"Puppy? So I take it that you're a werewolf?" Duo asked. He had been wondering what flavor lycanthropy they were all morning.

"Yep!" Jason responded letting out a little howl.

"Man, even for you, that was cheesy!" My partner was laughing.

I looked at Nathaniel though. I didn't know what type of lycanthropy he was infected with but I was sure that it wasn't wolf. I wasn't sure why I knew this other than I had been trying to picture Duo as a lycan and could only think of a cat. They both reminded me of sensual cats.

"I'm a leopard," Nathaniel volunteered under my scrutinizing gaze. "A black leopard."

Somehow, I found that very fitting. I looked to Duo wearing his all black clothing and remembered watching him stalk through OZ bases during the war. He had always moved with a speed and grace that reminded me of a panther hunting its prey. I could see no less in his possible brother despite Nathaniel registering more as prey than predator to me. I don't know what it was about the boy but even with knowing he was a lycanthrope, he just felt weaker and in need of protection.

Sally spoke up after she aquired her samples. "I'll run these back to the lab today. I'll push them through with my clearance. You should hear something back soon."

She excused herself to head back to work. We decided that it was time that we grab some lunch somewhere. They wanted to take us to a cafe down the street that had patio seeting. It was too nice of a day, they said, to sit indoors.

Duo smirked, "That and it's harder to have your security detail spy on us if we were all indoors."

Both Jason and Nathaniel had the descency to look ashamed. "Anita didn't want her kitty put in danger."

"I know Fei-kun is scary but he did wear his 'I'm just a normal civilian costume' today instead of his big bad wolf one!" Duo replied poking me in the ribs. "I don't know why a Federal Marshall and a couple of were-critters are afraid of little old us!"

"I think its the fact that she couldn't seem to find anything out about you," Nathaniel replied as we walked down the path. "Your records are too clean and your prints turned up nothing. Anita deals with the 'Big Bad Wolves' all the time and knows what they are. It's the fact that she can't seem to find anything out about you that has her worried. She told me this morning, that it's like you two just don't exist."

"That's because legally, we don't," Duo explained. "We haven't existed since the Eve's Wars."

"Cryptic man," Jason said with a shiver.

"Officially, we're Preventers," I told them. "Unofficially, we're anyone we need to be to get the job done. Our lack of records and prints give us a certain level of freedom to do what we do best."

"So you're like Spooks?"

"Where'd you hear that term?" I asked Nathaniel. The kid may be quiet but he seemed to know a lot of what was going on around him.

"Anita's friend, another Federal Marshall... Ted, has mentioned government Spooks before. I think he may have been one in the past."

"We're not government Spooks," Duo reassured him. "I don't take kindly to any government. I'm a Preventer because I don't want all these goverments to get out of line again and fight with each other. All you need to know about our jobs is that we are here to prevent any more wars like what we just went through."

We arrived at the cafe and ordered some sandwiches. The conversation turned more mundane after that. I really did not want to give them any more information about who we really were than we had to. I did not care if Nathaniel really was Duo's brother, they did not need to know that we were essentially spooks. I did not trust them yet to keep that information to themselves especially since we were still being tailed by at least three of their security team. Our status as former Gundam pilots was being kept on a strictly need to know basis. Most of our fellow Preventers did not even know. The three of us, Trowa, Duo and I that were regular Agents were just the 'prodigy kids'. Heero and Quatre were contracted as Preventers but didn't do regular work. Heero was still guarding Miss Peacecraft's body and Winner was for the most part, being the business man he was raised to be. Both of them took occassional jobs from Lady Une but they mostly kept their more public personas.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything that moves...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Anita's POV)

"Bobby Lee," I called trying to catch his attention down the hallway of the Circus of the Damned.

The older man slowed and then turned to look at me practically running to catch up. As head of security at the Circus, I really needed to talk to him about what was going on.

"Well, hello there, Anita-child. What can I do for you today?" He drawled in his deep Southern accent. "I saw you sent a few of my boys out with Nate and Jason this morning. Is something up?"

I caught up to him and continued walking down the hall beside him. "Nathaniel thinks he found his long lost brother. I don't trust the kid. He and the man he was with were at Guilty Pleasures last night and they say that they are Preventers. Excpet, I ran their prints last night. They don't appear to exist."

"Well," Bobby Lee stalled as he thought on that. "I don't know how they run things in the Preventers yet, we haven't gotten anyone inside to see for ourselves. The wererats, I mean. We've been trying to watch from the outside first. We didn't want to get involved in the Eve's Wars and it seems that a lot of soldiers from both sides of the wars are finding employ as Preventers."

"I don't know much about the origanization, myself," I admitted. "I got a bulliten a while back as Federal Marshall that was trying to recruit me but I turned it down."

"That can't be the only thing concerning you for you to send out body guards with two shifters," the greying man stated as we walked into the security office at the Circus.

"I talked to Edward," I replied. Sometimes, I didn't like how Bobby Lee tended to understand how I worked and other times I really appreciated it. "He wouldn't tell me anything about them but did recognize their names. He was so excited about them being here that he's coming to town to see them for himself."

"Awful frightening when Death himself is excited," Bobby Lee stated my exact thoughts.

Just then we were interrupted by a young man entering the office to hand Bobby Lee a report. The boy did not look any older than 22 but that was only a guess since I was pretty sure that I had never seen him before. Not that I could see much of him anyways because half of his face was covered by long, brunette bangs. He was slender and not nearly as muscled as the typical Wererat guards.

"Who is this?" I demanded. I had really been trying to keep up with learning who all the guards were and this one, I was sure that I had not seen before.

"Oh, I thought someone had introduced you to him before," Bobby Lee said putting his arm protectively around the young man who remained silent. The boy in question lifted his gaze to me and I could see that he had very bright green eyes. "He's been here for about a month now."

"We had not met," I said glaring at them both.

"Call me, Nan," the young man stated with a strange accent that I really couldn't place.

"What kind of name is 'Nan'?" I asked realizing that I was sounding pretty rude.

"It's short for Nanashi," he explained calmly as if my question had not been rude at all.

"Well, we couldn't just go around calling him 'No-Name' or 'Hey, you' all the time, even if it is only 'no-name' in Japanese. It at least sounds more like a name," Bobby Lee explained.

"You don't have a name?" I asked incredulously.

"Don't remember it," was all that he said. It made me think of Duo Maxwell saying last night that he didn't remember if he was really Nathaniel's brother or not.

"We found this little pup wandering central Europe when he was nothing but a wee thing," Bobby Lee stated. I realized that I on some level knew Bobby Lee travelled a lot when he was a mercenary but I always just pictured him down on the Bayou or something. "He was burnt, scared, and alone so we took him with us. It turned out that the little guy was a natural mechanic and a pretty damn good pilot. It doens't matter what suit or cockpit you put him in, he's a master of."

The boy in question just shrugged. "I do what I can."

"I lost track of him during a scuffle and thought he was dead," Bobby Lee stated with his arm still protectively slung around Nan's shoulders. "Turns out he wound up with a different mercenary group out in space. He's been out among the stars!"

"Actually, only the colonies and the Moon," Nan corrected. "I wanted to come back to Earth though so I found Bobby Lee and a few of the other Rodere."

"Well, welcome back Earthside," I said for lack of anything better. "I still don't know why I hadn't noticed you before."

"You won't," Bobby Lees stated releasing the boy. "That's his best quality, he's as quiet as a mouse."

"I need to get back," the young man stated taking leave of the office. I watched him leave as silently as he entered. I typically did not like having new security personnel especially finding out that they had already been her for a month. I trusted Bobby Lee though and he seemed to regard the young man fondly.

"You don't trust him," Bobby Lee said pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I trust you, though," I replied. "He's new, we will see if he earns my trust."

"Don't let calm and quiet fool you, missy," Bobby Lee affected his southern accent. "He's been a mercenary since he was about 6 years old. He's got nerves of steel and will follow orders unquestioningly. He was raised by merchs; its all he knows."

"That's kind of sad," I replied thinking about how strange a childhood that must have been.

"Not to Nanashi. That pup's just happy to belong somewhere. He hasn't talked much about what he did over the last ten or so years but I suspect that he saw action in the war."

"It's kind of tragic," I said. I had been thinking about the war a lot since yesterday. "I've now heard three very young people talk about the Wars like they are old veterans and one of them just turned old enough to legally drink yesterday."

"They're probably mobile suit pilots," Bobby Lee conjectured. "The older suits, at least the ones we had in Europe, were slower, clunkier but more stable. The newer ones, especially from what I heard about those Gundams, just the force exerted on the pilot is enough to put an older pilot into cardiac arrest. I heard that the average age of an OZ pilot was 18. The colonies are rumored to have sent people much younger. There are rumors that the Gundam pilots themselves were nothing but children. I find that hard to believe because of the amount of skill and experience needed to even pilot a basic mobile suit would be far beyond what a normal child could do."


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything that moves...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Jason POV)

Sitting around a small bistro table with Nate's brother and his friend was actually really enjoyable. The two were very guarded about giving away any information about what they do. I could understand Anita's concerns about them. I was pretty sure that no one worked that hard to hide what they do. Hell, we even knew that Mr. Ted Forrester had a family in New Mexico and that man was pretty much an assassin.

I kept trying to ask questions to lead them into give us any sort of information but those two tended to be too smart to fall for anything. "So, got any one waiting for you back home?"

The Asian man just raised an eyebrow elegantly and Duo started laughing hysterically. I looked over at my best friend and he was chuckling at me. I scratched the back of my head and said, "Well, obviously I missed some important piece of information here."

Nate put his hand on my shoulder before directing my attention back to our two companions. "They're together."

"Oh, for some reason, I just figured Duo took his Preventers partner to a male strip joint as a joke for his birthday."

"Well, we are partners at the Preventers and we do tend to keep our relationship quiet at work," WuFei explained. "It's bad enough we're the youngest there by several years and outrank so many of them, we don't need to give them another reason not to like us."

"Now maybe five years ago, a prank like that might have gotten Fei-fei all riled up but I learned early on not to prank him no matter how good the prank was," Duo explained.

"Why wouldn't you prank him?" I asked filing away the knowlege that they had known each other for at least five years. Anita had asked me to get as much information on them as I could.

"I get revenge."

"You didn't hurt him did you?" Nathaniel asked leaning in closer to his double.

"Nah," Duo said leaning back away from my friend. "I may be devious with my pranks but Wu-man is downright evil with them. He's way too smart to be trusted! Not only can he prank everyone at the same time, he never gets caught!"

"Your pranks lack subtlety," was all that Chang offered as an explanation. "And I got tired of you always trying to pull something on me so I made sure that everyone else got a taste of your pranks and got tired of them as well."

"Oh god, what did you do?" I asked looking at the rather serious looking Preventer finding it hard to believe that he would ever pull a practical joke on anyone.

"So get this," Duo starts with a smile. "So we're all staying with our friend's sister and not only does he short sheet everyone else's bed but he does it to himself. The only bed in the huge house left alone was mine!"

"Well, I had to make it look like you did it," WuFei explained looking rather smug.

"I start hearing people grumbling about their beds as they start turning in for the night," the braided Preventer continues. "Even Quat was pissed off because he was so tired and only wanted to sleep in a bed for once. WuFei himself was the last one to retire and practically woke the entire house when he started yelling about the injustice of someone tampering with his bed."

"I had to be convincing to get everyone to blame you."

"I didn't know what was going on because I knew that I didn't do anything that time. Everyone seemed to be blaming me though because when I got up the next morning, no one would speak to me. I actually got a lecture from Tro about when it was appropriate to pull practical jokes. I don't think I had heard three words from him prior to that and there he was lecturing me!"

"He kept proclaiming his innocence but with his history, no one belived him."

"You never did own up to that one. I still get blamed for it from the other guys."

"Serves you right for pulling so many pranks on me," WuFei challenged him with a gleam in his eyes.

"If I would have known it was you back then, imagine what we could have got up to together."

"We did have other things to concentrate on at the time."

I was laughing at their banter back and forth. Despite their very constrasting appearances, the two of them were very close. I could tell that Chang was very intelligent and calculating while Duo was equally as smart and calculating but hid it behind a mask of smiles and silliness. I couldn't help but compare Nate and Duo. It was like seeing an alternate universe version of Nate. Where my friend was shy, quiet, and very submissive, I could see that the new version was loud, bold, and a force to be reckoned with. I remembered the knife Duo seeminly pulled out of thin air last night at the club when I got too close to him. Our security should have been able to find it on him. That man was used to being armed and knew how to hide it well.

Nate was looking at his watch and then to me. I knew him well enough that he was not going to say anything. I looked at my watch as well and realized how much time we had already spent with these two.

"I hate to cut this short," I said to them reaching for the bill. "But we have to get to the studio for our dance class soon."

"Dance classes?" Duo asked looking intrigued.

"Well, we are exotic dancers," his brother - I knew it wasn't officially proven yet but really, with how similar those two looked, I had little doubt that Duo was actually Nikky. "We have to learn to dance somewhere. Well, except for Jason here. He's done ballet and dance since he was a kid. You should see him, he's something else on the dance floor."

I elbowed my friend at the comment. "Now you'll make me lose coolness points with these two badasses!"

"On the contrary," WuFei interjected. "I find someone sticking with something from childhood, something they enjoy doing, to be very admirable."

"And honestly, Fei over there is the only badass here," Duo argued. "I think he was doing martial arts before he could walk!"

"I don't know, Duo," I countered, "that little stunt you pulled last night with the knife was pretty badass. How in the world did you get past security with that? And seriously, where did you have it hidden? It just seemed to materialize out of no where."

"Now that's a trade secret!"


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Anita POV

I got a call from Jason in the afternoon after their lunch date with the two Preventers. He did not seem to have much information for me. We talked for several minutes while I was driving to Animators Inc.

"Yeah," he said. "Seems they are having some Preventer's doctor run a DNA test for them. The woman seemed very shocked by how much Nate and Duo looked alike."

"I can't say that I blame her. It is rather shocking. I wonder what possessed them separately, if they truly are brothers, to grow their hair long like that."

"I've been wondering that myself," Jason replied. "Oh I did get something interesting from them."

"Really? Do tell."

"They're a couple," he said with a laugh. "Somehow it never crossed my mind that they were gay even though they had both come to see male strippers last night."

"I kind of figured that one out. Did you get anything else out of them?"

"Just observations really," he admitted. "They're good. They spotted our body guards right away but it did not seem to bother them that they were there. Chang is a martial artist and really smart. Duo's pretty bright, too. Neither of them miss anything and are very good at avoiding giving away any information. Whoever or whatever they are, they've had a lot of practice blending in."

"That's what has me worried. They seem too convenient at not having identities and then turning up and looking just like Nathaniel's long lost, and much loved brother. I just don't trust them."

"Oh," Jason exclaimed. "I forgot, they did give me a bit of information. They said that they are younger than the other Preventers by a few years and higher rank than them. They said that their coworkers don't really know who they are either or why they are so high ranking. Duo mentioned only working for the Preventers to stop any more wars from breaking out. He seemed very haunted by the wars."

"Interesting," I said and continued to wonder who those two were. The Wars had been brought up so much in the last two days that it was really starting to bug me. I know here in St. Louis, we were very much removed from them and only really watched it on the news. Most of the terrorist's targets from the colonies were military bases or in space. I have to admit that I didn't follow the goings on too closely with everything that was going on here with the Preternatural community.

"I've got to go, Jason," I said pulling in to the parking lot at work. "Thank you for going with Nathaniel today and thanks for trying to get more information for me."

"No problem, Nate's my best friend, I would have done it even if you didn't ask. Besides, I went into it today thinking I was going to be super cool spy for you and it turns out, it's not too much fun trying to be a spy when the people you are spying on obviously know what you are doing."

I walked in my office after getting off of the phone. Bert caught me just as I was walking in the door. "You're first appointment is already in your office."

"You left someone in my office without me there?"

"He said he knew you and you were expecting him." He just shrugged and walked away. I still really dislike him.

I openned my office door with my hand resting on my gun. I relaxed when I saw the rather nondescript man sitting in my chair behind my desk. He had a gun laying on a folder in front of him.

"I was expecting you to walk in with your gun already drawn, Anita," Edward drawled affecting the 'good ole boy' persona.

"I figured that it was you when Bert let slip that whoever was in my office knew me and that I was expecting him."

"That man takes away all of my fun," he replied with a grin. It was his fake grin that he usually reserved for when he was working with other Marshalls or police. I didn't like it directed at me.

"What do you have for me?" I asked taking one of the client chairs across from him at my desk. I pointed to the folder.

"Well, I did some digging last night after you called. Turns out, I was able to find a couple pictures of those two. I don't know if it's really them so I was hoping you could help me identify them."

"You're still not going to tell me what you know," I asked taking the folder he offered to me.

"I was hoping you would guess," Edward replied turning that fake smile on again.

I opened the folder to find several gritty surveilence pictures. They were all black and white and not very clear. The first one was of a young person wearing dark clothing including a dark ball cap down over his face. He had a handgun drawn and looked to be running around the outside of a building. The only distinguising feature was the rope of a braid hanging down past the person's hips. That one could have been Duo but with only going by the braid, it was hard to tell. It could have easily been a young girl.

The second one was a side shot of a young man. He was wearing white and had a short, dark pony tail pulled tightly against his head. I couldn't see his face clearly though but I could see that he was knealing and placing what looked to be explosives next to some mobile suits in a hanger. He looked so small against the giant mobile suits.

The third had both the boys together. There was no mistaking that both figures, who were strangely dressed the same from the first two pictures, were boys. They were both handcuffed and sitting in what appeared to be a holding cell. I could see clearly that the short haired one was definitely Preventer Chang. There was no mistaking his angry glare directed to the security camera despite how old the pictures seemed to be. Again, the second boy had his head lowered and was looking through thick bangs. I could really only make out the curve of his jaw and the roundness of his cheeks. They both looked so unbelieveably young. They were children sitting in a bare cell and shackled like they were criminals. I wanted to cry when I noticed the cuts and abrasions litering their youthful bodies. Chang actually looked like he had a black eye developing.

I tore my eyes away from that sad scene to look at the last picture. It was obviously taken from the same camera as the previous one. In it, Chang was sitting very stiffly with his eyes closed and his hands folded awkwardly in his lap due to his handcuffs. Next to him, I could finally see Duo's face. He was looking right at the camera this time grinning like he was insane and flipping off the camera with both hands. The grin was downright scary as if he knew that he was looking at the surveilence camera operator and thinking how best it would be to kill them.

I was shaking when I put down the four photographs. "Yeah, those are the boys, except they're adults now. They're nothing but babies in those pictures!"

"They were fifteen actually," Edward corrected reclaiming the folder with the pictures.

"What did they do to get beat up like that, shackled, and thrown in jail?"

"That wasn't a jail. That was the brig on Moon Base. As for what they did, I'm not sure exactly but you can take your pick: Killing soldiers, destroying Earth's military bases, terrorism, murder, mayhem. Really, any or all of them."

I was aghast. I tried thinking of those baby-faces, especially knowing that they were only old enough to just be entering High School, and having them be capable of that laundry list of sociopathy. Then again, I had seen that cold look in Chang's eyes last night. I knew he was capable of killing. I was still having a hard time picturing Maxwell in the same position. I just kept picturing my Nathaniel instead of his look alike. He had a hard enough time learning to fire a gun that I could never see him committing a murder. I kept trying to separate the two boys in my mind and tried to focus on the image of Duo flipping off the camera despite being thoroughly beaten and imprisoned.

"Who sends little boys to do all that? Hell, who trains little boys to do that?"

"From what I was able to uncover, it was a very small group that did this," Edward replied leaning back in my office chair. "There were five boys hand picked in the colonies and trained for this. Some say at least three of them are Preventers but others say all five of them are."

"Five of them? Why would any military or whatever trained them only pick five?" To say that I was still so very confused about who the hell those young men were, would have been an understatement.

"The colonies only had five weapons to send to Earth - one from each cluster," Edward was grinning again. I could tell that he was thoroughly enjoying stringing me along with each tiny piece of information.

"Five weapons?" It was then that it finally dawned on me. "They sent the five Gundams!"

"The weapons were never the Gundams themselves, from what I've heard," he replied. "The boys were the weapons and the Gundams were their tools."

"So Duo and WuFei were Gundam pilots?" I said still not quite wanting to believe it to be true.

"That's the theory. No one has ever been able to confirm anything. It seems OZ and all the other factions involved never wanted to divulge the identies of the five pilots to the general public. I kind of don't blame them though because I'd have been embarrassed if my highly trained, large military was routinely spanked by a couple of children."

"What I really want to know is, how did Nicky Graison go from being a 5 year old abused child to a colonial terrorist in ten years?"

"That's something that I'd like to ask them myself as well," Edward said with a grin. "You said that they felt human?"

"Entirely so," I replied. "They felt powerful though. Do you think that they are some form of preternatural?"

"Let's just say that I am having a hard time believing five rugrats are really that good."

"Jealous of their records?" I replied with a snicker. "Seriously though, they're just humans. Jean-Claude was feeling them out and said so. Jason, Nate, and the other shifters all said that they smelled and felt human. If they're anything but human, it's something we've never seen before."

"Interesting. When can I meet them?"


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Duo's POV

We spent the evening together, WuFei and I. It was quiet and we just sat in our room and talked a lot. I was really trying to drag up any memories from early childhood. I couldn't come up with much. It was mostly vague memories - a moldy old, smelly couch, being cold and hungry, being afraid of adults, and the feeling that I needed to protect those smaller than me. They really could have been memories of after I got to L2 or before. I was never really sure.

WuFei just held me as I talked it all out. He had been aware of my rough childhood for a long time. He knew of my times on the street. He also knew about what happened at Maxwell's Orphanage.

I had a very fitful night's sleep after that. Wu would probably say something about my subconscious trying to tell me something. I'm of the opinion that I really should have tried poking my memory that hard. I had the standard nightmare about the church being destroyed. I had several other dreams where I was a small child being chased by mobile suits or OZ soldiers.

The last dream, I had in the wee hours of the morning. At first, I thought that I was dreaming about looking at myself as a small child. The face that I was looking at appeared to be mine - very young and very wide eyed. Sometimes I do dream in the third person. Then I came to realize that no, I was the one looking at the little boy with my face. I was hugging the boy close as he was crying.

"Shhh, don't cry," my tiny voice said to the sobbing boy. "You have to listen to me."

It was then that I was aware of the sound of heavy boots walking down the hallway behind me. The feeling of terror was rising in me. The tiny child in my arms was shaking in fear.

"You need to run as fast as you can and then find somewhere to hide," I instructed him while wiping his tears from his dirty little face. "Whatever you do, if you get caught by him, don't lie. He hits harder when he thinks you've been lying."

"Okay, but I want you to come with me," the child sobbed.

"I can't. I'll hold him off to give you a head start. The both of us don't need hit."

"But - "

"No," I said as I heard the footsteps even closer. They were heavy and uneven. That meant that he was probably drunk again. "Go, now! Remember what I told you!"

"Run, hide, and don't lie!" the little boy repeated before bolting out the door. "Bye, Nicky!"

My eyes were dry and even though I was shaking with fear, I turned and glared up to the very large man looming over me in the doorway. He was holding a nightstick in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.

It was then that I woke with a start. WuFei was gently shaking my shoulders to wake me. I looked up in to his dark brown eyes that were filled with concern. I dove into his arms and let him hold me. We both had a lot of experience with nightmares from our pasts. He stroked my hair and I started to calm down.

"Shh, Duo, it was just a bad dream," he whispered.

I shook my head at him pulling back to look at his face again. "No, I think it was actually a memory. A long burried one, but a memory."

He smoothed my bangs down and brushed his fingers across my cheek. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I told him about the dream. He listened and held me while I did so. He held his questions until the end though. He just let me spill about the whole thing first.

"Do you think it really was a memory or was it just that you've been thinking about the possibility of him being your little brother?"

"No," I replied. "I can describe that kitchen and the backdoor of the house now with great detail. I could tell you what the rest of the house looked like. I could tell you about the tiny, filthy room we shared that only had a mattress on the floor and one blanket. I was really there, Fei."

"So you really think that you may be Nicholas Graison?"

"Probably, maybe, I don't know?"

"Well, Sally said that she would call today. She was rushing that genetic test through as fast as possible," he explained.

It was early still but we got up and dressed. The gym at the local Preventer's office was always opened. A good work out, some sweat, and maybe a good fight was just what the doctor ordered. About a year ago, WuFei was finally tired of me blocking punches with my face during missions. He started teaching me some martial arts. As a kid, he had been trained in Tai Chi and several styles of kung fu. On the other hand, I was trained on the streets by being hit. I wasn't really learning a particular style from him but a mix of whatever seemed to work for me. He'd show me a few forms and then we would break them down in to practical fighting techniques. I finally understood why he always seemed to do his forms all the time even back during the war. It wasn't just a dance to him, despite him looking like he was flowing through the stances like a dancer. He really was 'seeing' his invisible opponents making every practice form count as much a if he were sparring with a partner. I wasn't anywhere near that yet doing forms but the sparring was what I loved. Everytime my Chinese lover and I sparred, I knew that I would be exhausted when we were done and have several new bruises. I also knew that I would learn something either about a technique, about my lover, or most importantly, about myself.

My cell phone rang right after I got out of the shower. I wasn't going to answer it but noticed that it was Sally. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Duo," she said cheerfully.

"Morning, Sal. Got any news for me?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I wanted to call you first before I called your look-alike."

"The suspense is killing me here," I teased. "I feel like I'm on one of those day time shows and you're going to make me wait through a comercial break to tell me that I am not the father."

She laughed at that. "Well, I can tell you with some certainty that you are not the father."

"Gee, Sally, I could have figured that one out myself. I was less than a year old supposedly when Nate was born."

"Do you want me to start calling you Nicholas or are you still going to go by Duo?"

"Huh?"

"You two are a match. Nathaniel is your brother," she said and I could hear the smile in her voice even over the phone. "Congrats, you have a family. Well, at least you have a brother. I don't know anything about what family he has."

"So it's true? I really am his brother?"

"Kid, only you have the devil's own luck at bumping into your long lost and forgotten brother."

"Thanks, Sally for running the test so fast," I said for lack of anything better to say. I grabbed WuFei's hand as I hung up the phone. He had came and stood by me when he realised who I was on the phone with.

"So it was a memory," my partner said. "That dream you had last night."

"Yes. My name really is Nicholas Graison," I said letting that information sink in. I always figured that I had a name before I named myself Duo but I never thought that I find out what it was. I thought back to that dream from last night. "I want to find out who that man was and I want him to know what it is like to be afraid."

"Shinigami wants to come out and play with him," WuFei chuckled. "Maybe we should start by talking to Nathaniel about it. Maybe he knows who he was. We don't even know if that man is still alive."

"I sure hope that he's still alive because the way I see it, he's the one to blame for everything. He's the one who took me from my family."


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Nathaniel's POV)

I hung up the phone from talking with the nice Preventer's doctor. She had been very sweet to me over the phone. I don't know if she was trying to comfort me or what but she had kept talking about Nicky, I mean Duo, like he and Wu Fei were her kid brothers. I had already known that Duo was my brother without the blood test. He just felt right. Some might consider it childish idolation but he was always my strength when we were home. He may not have been that much older or bigger than me but he was the braver one. I remembered that no one could tell him what to do. It was probably why he was the target all the time at home.

"Nathaniel?" Anita said gently while reaching for me. I took her hand and crawled back into bed with her and Micah. I took comfort in their arms and their warmth. I remembered huddling together with Nicky on that old mattress with the tattered blanket in our room.

"Duo is my brother," I said to them. "I finally found Nicky and he doesn't remember me."

"From what you've told us, he had been beaten to the point of death the last time you saw him," Micah replied looking directly at me with his leopard eyes. "And from what you told me that the doctor said, he had a skull fracture. It's a wonder that boy could walk, talk, or really do anything after such a head trauma."

"He was always stronger than me," I said.

"Give him time. He may start to remember things now that he has you there to remind him."

"Yeah, Micah, maybe you're right," I admitted. I was starting to get concerned with how quiet Anita was being. I had noticed last night when she came to bed that she appeared preoccupied with something. I looked over at her and met her dark eyes. "You're concerned about something, please tell me what it is? Is it about Nicky?"

She hugged me close for a minute before answering. "I'm just worried. Duo is clearly not the Nicky that you remember. He's been through so much that we don't know. He's virtually a stranger to you. I just want you to be safe around him."

"He's not going to hurt me," I argued. We may have grown up separately but he was still Nicky. "Besides, he's a Preventer which is like law enforcement. He's one of the good guys."

"You know I don't believe that all law enforcement are the good guys. I've seen too much of the contrary," she argued with her voice taking on that hard edge she gets when she is upset about something. "And he may be a Preventer now and he said that he was in the war before but we dont' know what he did in the war. What business did a kid like him have fighting in those wars?"

"What business did anyone have fighting in any war?" Micah countered. "You're right, though, we don't know where he's been or what he has done. But we do know that when it counted, even as a small child, he protected his brother with his life. That person is still in there, head injury or not."

"Anita, I trust him not to hurt me. He was my one bright spot in my childhood and I have that bright spot back."

"Okay, alright," she relented with a sigh. "I still don't trust him or Chang as far as I can throw them. Can we settle on you just being careful?"

"I will be," I agreed. "I need to see him now that I know for sure."

"Anita, you don't work until late tonight, correct?" Micah asked.

"Yeah, it's an easy night, only a couple of raising and all at the same cemetery," she stated.

"Then why don't we have the boys over tonight for dinner?" he suggested. "That way, you can spend some time together and Anita can watch their every move. And I can finally meet them."

"Can we Anita?" I asked. I knew she was right for not trusting them. I did not know what had happened to Nicky after our stepfather beat him that day. I had run away, like he told me to. The last I had seen of him he was pushing me out the door and turning to face the drunkard that had custody of us. It was the bravest thing that I had ever seen.

"Do we have to have them both here?" she almost whined. I know she was not comfortable with this. I gave her my best puppy dog face complete batting my eyes at her. "Okay, fine. As long as I'm here to supervise along with Micah."

"Don't forget Damian is still downstairs," I reminded her of the third in our triumvirate. It never hurts to have a 1000 year old Viking vampire as backup.

"I'll go call Nicky," I said getting up from bed. I didn't bother putting my shorts back on and walked out to the kitchen to start coffee and call my brother. I realized when I got to the kitchen that I had forgotten my phone in the bedroom and turned back. I could hear Anita and Micah talking in the room and hesistated at the door for a moment to listen to them.

"So, Edward's in town?" Micah whispered.

Anita responded in a hushed tone but I could still hear her quite well because of my enhanced senses from the lycanthrope. "Yeah, when I had asked him about those two Preventers the other night, he flew in. He wants to meet them."

"Why?"

"He showed me pictures from the Wars," I could hear her voice rising slightly. "They were just children but they were terrorists."

"They're killers? I thought you said you had suspected as much from the Asian one."

"There's more but I don't know how much I should say," she explained. "Let's just say for now, that they are two very dangerous young men."

"So that's why you don't trust them, because they were in the war?"

"No, it's not really that. Well, it is because I don't know what they are capable of. But also the fact that they are both being so tightlipped about their involvement in the wars. I'd be more inclinded to trust them if they would open up a little bit."

I chose that moment to walk in to retrieve my phone. I acted like I had not heard their conversation. "I started coffee if you want some. I'm going to call them now."

I walked out after that. Anita did not trust them because they were being secretive. Well, it wasn't like I had been very forthcoming with them about my past either. I was exactly excited to tell my brother that i had used his name to do fetish porn back when I was still under Gabriel's protection. He had gotten to fight and become a Preventer as a teenager. I was a drug addicted prostitute. It seems that my brother and I had a lot of catching up to do.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

An extra long chapter to make up for the week between writing. I had to read the new Anita Blake book and let it process before I was ready to write this chapter.

(WuFei POV)

I was a little shocked when we arrived at their home that night for dinner. It was a large house in the woods. It was rather nondescript, all things considered. I don't know what I was expecting though. There were several cars in the driveway already though. My impression from the invitation had been that it was just a family dinner and a small thing. The number of cars made think that maybe it was actually a dinner party. I grabbed the fruit tart from the local bakery out of the car as I ushered Duo to the door. I could see in his eyes that he was very nervous but as we stood on the doorstep, he plastered that grin of his on.

I was surprised when an unknown man answered the door. He was short for a man with brown curly hair. He was dressed casually but what was really odd was the color of his eyes. I had traveled all over the Earthsphere and had never seen eyes such as his. They were a yellowish green. They reminded me of cat eyes. My educated guess would be that he was some for of were-cat but I had not heard of a lycanthrope being able to just change their eyes.

"Hello," the man said. His accent sounded slightly more northern than most of the people we had talked to in the St Louis area. "You must be Duo and WuFei. Please come in. My name is Micah Callahan."

We both shook his hand as wel walked in the door. He took the dessert from my hands as we headed further into the house. It was a rather large home but it definitely had that homey feeling.

"I'll just take this to the kitchen," Micah explained as he showed us to the living room. "Nathaniel is just finishing up dinner. It should be ready shortly."

As he walked out of the room, Anita walked in. We sat on the couch with her sitting in a chair nearby. There was an awkward silence. Duo started fidgetting with his braid. I grabbed his hands to still them and he clutched my hands tightly.

"Thank you for having us over," I said breaking the silence. "This is a beautiful house."

"Thank you," she replied. "Nathaniel really wanted to have you over. I'm not that domestic but he really likes decorating and really all things domestic. He's done most of the house."

"He has good taste," I replied. "We're so used to hotel rooms and barracks that its very nice to be somewhere that feels like a home."

"You two must travel a lot," she replied eyeing us darkly. I knew that she did not trust us. "Where do you call home?"

"My colony in the L5 cluster was destroyed during the war," I explained. "I lost everyone and everything that I had ever known. At this point in my life, I call home anywhere that I can be with Duo."

Duo squeezed my hand harder then. I am not usually that open with people that I had just met but we were trying to build his brother's family's trust. I knew how nervous my partner was so I took it on my shoulders to start building a bridge with these people.

Micah chose that time to walk back into the room. I watched as Anita's eyes were drawn directly to the man and how her features softened while watching him walk. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"Dinner is ready," the yellow eyed man said.

"Great!" Duo finally spoke up as he jumped to his feet. "I'm starved!"

"I should have warned you," I joked with Anita and Micah. "Duo's a bottomless pit."

"What can I say," my violet eyed partner replied. "I'm a growing boy!"

"That will be your excuse when you're 90," was all I replied following everyone to the dining room. The rather large table was set with only five places but it could have easily seated many more. I wondered if they were used to entertaining many more people for dinner.

"This smells delicious," Duo said while plopping down in one of the chairs. It was a very traditional American meal of meat and potatoes and roasted vegetables. It was simple and smelled wonderful.

Nathaniel walked in with a meat platter to set in the center of the table. His long hair was up in a high pony tail. He smiled when he saw us. We all sat down and started in on the wonderful meal.

"I think Duo needs to take some lessons from you," I said to Nathaniel. "He tends to cook everything as if he were cooking with a flame thrower."

"Hey now," my partner exclaimed between mouthfuls of vegetables. "It's just not really a skill set I needed to learn. Besides, you cook well enough for the both of us and I happen to like your home cooking."

"Do you cook a lot of tradition Chinese food?" Duo's younger brohter asked.

"It's what I know," I replied to the young man. "Before a few years ago, I had never left L5. Although, I am learning to really like a lot of Western style foods."

"Yeah, Wu really loves cheese burgers," Duo remarked. "I still can't get him to like pizza all that much though."

We continued with dinner with mostly small talk. It was awkward but everyone was trying very hard to make it less so. I was still a bit confused about who MIcah was and why he was with Anita and Nathaniel. I knew the Federal Marshall also had been tied to the Master of the City romantically. It seemed that Ms. Blake was rather polyamorous.

I tried to continue with the small talk by focusing on Micah. "Mr. Callahan, I was wondering what you do for a living."

"Call my Micah," he corrected. "I run the Lycanthrope Coalition locally. We coordinate between all the different animals and help support the new members as well as give legal advice to those who need it."

"So it's a support group for the lunarly challenged?" Maxwell asked. I shot him a look for being rude.

"I'm sorry, Duo tends to be a bit crass," I apologised.

"No, he really got it quite right there," Micah said laughing. "It can be quite hard for the newly turned and even for those who are still not open about their status. The coalition does offer support to those in the community who need it."

"Micah was one of founding members of the Coalition," Nathaniel explained with pride evident in his voice.

"That's awesome," his brother responded. "I take it that since you're on the Coalition, that you also get furry like Nate?"

"Yes, I'm a leopard as well."

We continued to talk about the Coalition and the supports that they offered. It seemed like a rather nuetral topic that everyone was comfortable discussing. We finished dinner and Nathaniel went to the kitchen to get the dessert we brought. It was over the sweet dessert that Duo turned the conversation to a harder topic.

"I don't know how to ask this," he started. "I had a nighmare last night but I don't think it was. I think I may be starting to remember something. Nate, what was the last thing that I said to you? Do you remember? I know that we were really young when it happened. I just need to know if what I dreamed was true."

The younger man bit his lip and looked down at his fruit covered dessert. "You told me to run and hide. You also told me not to lie if our stepfather found us. He hated lying and would really lay into us when we lied or when he thought we were lying."

"So it was our stepfather," my partner said coldly. I laid my hand on his leg. He was getting agitated just thinking about the dream and his leg was bouncing wildly under the table.

"Yeah," Nathaniel replied. "He was all we had left when our mom died. I don't really remember her much. She died when we were really young."

"He was the drunk man that we were afraid of in the dream," Duo said.

"Yeah, he didn't drink every day because he worked but when he did drink, he got even more violent."

"You've never told us that, Nathaniel," Anita said taking his hand in her tiny one.

"I've spent many years trying to forget," he explained. "I'm kind of jealous of Nicky for being able to forget that horrible time in our lives. I tried so hard as a kid to forget but no even all the drugs that I took would numb those memories."

"Trust me," my partner said leaning over the table more to look at his brother directly in the eyes. "I may not have been able to remember the details but the lessons I learned from that time stuck with me. My motto has always been to 'run and hide and never lie'. And please call me Duo. It's the name I chose as a kid and it means a lot to me. An older boy on the streets named Solo took care of me when no one else would. When he died, I took the name Duo in his honor because I never wanted to be alone again."

"You're not alone," Nathaniel replied smiling weakly at his brother. "There has always been two of us even though we were separated for so long."

I put my arm around Duo. "You two seem to have a lot of catching up to do."

"Anita, do you mind if Ni- I mean Duo and I maybe take our coffee out to the back deck and catch up?"

She seemed to be weighing up her options. I did not like how the young leopard was practically asking permission. She kept looking at my partner and I before finally answering. "Alright but remember what I told you."

Duo reached over and tucked a stray hair behind my ear before grabbing his cup of coffee and following his brother outside. I was left at the table with both Marshall Blake and Mr. Callahan.

"Can I help you clear the table?" I asked for lack of anything constructive to say.

"You're our guest tonight so don't feel obligated but if you would like to help, it would be appreciated," Micah replied rising from the table. I helped him clear the table and carry the dishes to the kitchen. Anita was loading the dishwasher as we brought the remnants in.

I chose that that moment to speak with Anita. "I know you don't trust Duo and I."

"No, I don't," she replied turning her dark eyes towards mine. "You've been more forthcoming with information about yourselves tonight but I know that you're leaving a lot out. I just want to protect Nathaniel. He has lived through so much."

"We would never harm you and yours," I replied. "We have dedicated our lives to the protection of those who can't protect themselves. That's why we're Preventers now."

"But you weren't always on the right side of the law," she stated. I knew it was not a question. I was starting to realize that she may have been able to find out more information about us than we were originally led to believe.

"No," I replied cautiously. "We were not."

"I'm going to be very blunt," she said. Her dark eyes were cold and hard. "I know you were terrorists and basically what that entailed. You are dangerous men. I want you to understand that I'm also very dangerous and if either of you hurt me and mine, it doesn't matter what specialized training you both recieved, I will hurt you."

I ignored her threats. I expected nothing less from her. She was a hard woman who seemed to fight for those she loved. I could respect that. "I take it that you think you know something about us. You may have even u ncovered that we were Gundam pilots. What you don't understand is why we did what we did. I'm not saying that the terrible things that we did were justified but we all had our reasons for doing what we did. The war is over; the gundams are no more. We were the monsters that the war needed. Now we are peacekeepers."

"Thank you for your honesty," she replied. "The threat still stands though."

"Understood," I replied. "Is there something we can put the leftovers in?"

And just like that, the conversation was over. Micah helped me divide the left overs into dishes for in the refridgerator. Anita poured herself another cup of coffee and walked past the window to watch the matched pair out on the patio. I stood by her momentarily to watch Duo and his brother.

"I would do anything to protect him," I said softly. "Being beat almost to death by his stepfather was just the start of his struggles. My life was not idyllic but at least I had a home and family. I want him to be as happy as our lives will let him. This is finally his chance to have a family. He told me once that he did not want to fall in love with me because everyone he loved died and he didn't want me to die."

"Nathaniel had to learn what love was as well. Everyone that was supposed to have loved him, hurt him," she said. "Neither of them had it easy."

"Then we understand and agree on how important it is for those two to rebuild their relationship with each other."

"Yes," she replied and then turned to me. "How soon are you two leaving?"

I took a sip of my coffee and thought about how to answer that.

tbc.


	13. Chapter 13

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Duo POV)

I followed my brother out to the back patio. I was still struggling to process that this young man who looked so much like me was actually my little brother. I had spent so much of my life alone and resigned to the fact that I was just another nameless war orphan that coming to terms with the fact that I not only had a name, a birthdate, and family, was really hard. I had wanted so much to be different than the other nameless street kids that I grew up with. We had all had fantasies about being the lost child of a millionaire or possibly a kidnapped prince. Children's tales told in the darkest hours of the night to other children who sought the comfort of your warmth and voice. Sometimes I was the one telling the stories and sometimes it was someone else. I quit making up fantasy stories after going to live at Maxwell's church.

We sat together on the swing on the porch. Nathaniel was so close to me at that point that I could feel the heat radiating off of his skin. We sat in silence for a few minutes just swinging slowly looking out over the darkened yard. I watched as the fireflies blinked their little yellow lights across the grass.

"So what's it like being a wereleopard?" I asked when I could no longer take the silence.

"I was turned when I was 17," he started to explain. "The leopards helped get me off of drugs. I was pretty heavily addicted, living on the streets, and prostituting myself to fund the addiction."

"I saw in your police record," I interrupted.

"Were-animals have a higher metabolism so drugs don't really work on us any more," he elaborated. "It wasn't the best situation with the leopards though. Gabriel, our original leader, got me off of drugs but continued to pimp me out. I had, still do have, a lot of issues."

"I think between the two of us, we have subscriptions," I joked thinking off all the nightmares and guilt issues that I had from the war and before. "I was on the streets a lot growing up myself but I luckily avoided the drugs. I fought hard and I was a good theif. The wars got me off of the streets and gave me direction. I can't say that they made me a better person - more like they made me a better demon. I was so good at the death and destruction thing, I was called 'Shinigami' or the God of Death. It wasn't until WuFei and the other guys that I finally started to learn to be human again."

"Anita and then Micah were the ones who finally rescued me," Nate replied. "By the time Anita found me, I was so submissive that it was impossible to say 'no' to anything. I lived for the pain and it almost got me killed. She saved my life and taught me that I'm more than just a sex-slave. I mean, it was bad before she came along but now I know my limits and actually want to keep them. Therapy has helped a lot with that, too."

"Sounds like you've made yourself quite a good family," I observed.

"Yeah, the Pard - what a group of leopards is called, is really good now. You have WuFei though. He seems really supportive to you."

"Yeah," I replied thinking of my Chinese lover. "We have been through so much together due to the Wars. We both had our issues back then and it took a while for us to get through them before we could get together. It was him and the other guys that we fought along side that we consider family. We don't see the others as much because of the nature of our work though."

"Your job must be really lonely. I hate it when Anita has to leave to do her Federal Marshall stuff. She doesn't have to go all the time but its often enough. I couldn't imagine that type of work being the only thing you did."

"It's what I know and what I'm good at," I said in reply. "So you didn't really answer my question before. What is it like to be a wereleopard?"

"You mean, what's it like living with the beast inside of me?" I nodded and he went on. "I'm faster, stronger, my senses are more acute but that's not what you're really asking is it?"

"No, I really kind of want to know what it's like to shift or what is it like to be part of the pard, isn't that what you called it?"

"Ah, yeah," he said turning to look at me. "It's hard to explain really. It doesn't really change who you are but it does change a bit of how you think. There are times when my beast is really close to the surface like when it's hungry. The urges are strong when I haven't fed and and I'm around meat or times when I'm around a lot of blood. I can control it now but in the begining it was hard. It's hard for anyone when they are first turned. It also makes your primal urges harder to resist."

"So your sex drive is turned up?" I asked him while trying to picture how much blood a stripper would be around that would make it important enough to mention.

"Well, animals are more in tune with their urges," he said looking away. "You know how cats and dogs and such like to sleep together in puppy piles, groom each other, or just rub up against each other?"

"Yeah. Nothing cuter than sleeping puppies in a pile," I replied.

"People are the same to some extent, everyone needs human contact," Nate said scooting closer to me on the swing.

"It took me almost a year to convince 'Fei of that. He kept beating himself up over how much he liked being held," I laughed at my memory of WuFei from early in our relationship. "Don't worry, I hugged it out of him."

My brother laughed at that. "I can't imagine him liking being hugged very much."

"Oh, he likes it now. He has to put up with me glomping on to him all the time."

"So you like to hug people?"

"Yeah, I think it comes from not getting enough hugs a child or something..." I started to say and stopped when my newly found brother practically draped himself over my lap. It took me only a second to recover and wrap my arms around him. He laid his head on my shoulder and practically snuggled in to me. I could feel the tension leaking out of his body. I smiled down at him and laid my cheek on his hair. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I remembered huddling on a bare mattress with a worn blanket wrapped around us. Even the smell of his hair was familiar. I could smell vanilla which was probably his shampoo but underneath that, I could smell him. It was familiar. I had read somewhere that memories associated with smells are some of the strongest and longest lasting. At that moment, I believed it. I may not remember everything about our life together before that monster of a step-parent beat the everloving fuck out of me but I remembered him - my brother.


	14. Chapter 14

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Anita POV)

"How soon are you two leaving?" I asked Chang. He took another moment to look out the window at his boyfriend, or was it lover? I don't really know what those two consider each other. I noticed that they had referred to each other as partners a few times but that may just be their work relationship.

"Lady Une, our boss and the head of the Preventers, is transferring us to the St Louis branch for the time being," he replied. "When she noticed that you had run our prints, they're flagged by the way so she knew immediately, we told her what was going on with Duo and Nathaniel. She wants Duo close to his brother to be able to build some form of relationship."

"That's quite benevolent of her," I replied eying up the Chinese man. "Why do I get the impression that was not the only reason?"

"Because you've been around police work for too long?" He ventured a pretty accurate guess. "And you're right, she did want something else."

"And what else could she possibly want?"

"Your help," he said finally turning to look at me. He was only a slight bit taller than me so meeting his eyes were very easy.

"Is there a case or something involving us?" I asked. Micah brought us more coffee to refill our cups. I noticed Chang did not take any more coffee but I gladly took the refill. I needed to know if something was going to be endangering us or our city.

"No, nothing like that," he said putting his cup down at the table. "Can we go sit and be a bit more comfortable than standing here spying on those two? I'm sure your security guards will keep a close eye on them."

"How did you know?" I asked. I was shocked he knew about those.

"The number of cars in the drive way was kind of a give away but also, I've seen at least two of them walking right at the treeline. They're good but I've been doing this too long. I know what to look for. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a few in the house."

"Jason said you two were really good at spotting the guards the other day, I didn't quite believe him," I admitted.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't care that you have guards, I was just pointing them out," he said walking towards the kitchen table to sit down with his cup of half full coffe. "I hope you learn to trust us a little bit more soon though. We really do mean you no harm."

I sat down with him with one more glance out the window at Nathaniel. "I don't trust anyone until they earn it."

"Understandable."

"So what is this Preventer's business that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked. I took a sip of my coffee. Micah had prepared it just the way that I like it. Sometimes that man is just too good to me.

"Business?" He asked as if toying with the word. "That's really what it is. Due to the recent changed, especially in the United States and Europe with the legalization of the preternatural, we have come to realize that we are sorely lacking in the knowledge department there. We all know the basics of things but nothing beyond that. If we were to get a case involving any sort of preternatural being, we would be in trouble."

"Yeah, even with local police forces, the lack of knowledge is shocking." I couldn't even count any more how many times someone's lack of understanding had lead to injuries or deaths with the police, SWAT, or even the Federal Marshall program.

"That's what Lady Une wants from you," he said keeping his face very neutral. "She wants your expertise. We're not expecting you to be one of us if you do not want to but we could really use some up to date information. I'll be truthful, Lady Une has sent out requests to you and a few other Federal Marshalls with this type of expertise but the only response we got was from Marshall Corman from Maine. Everyone else has ignored it."

"Corman is an idiot," I said. "He's going to get a bunch of people killed one day or he's going to end up killing an innocent vampire or lycanthrope."

"That was Lady Une's impression of him as well," the young man said. "She would much rather get her information from someone who knows better but no one has volunteered. We just want our personnel to know enough to be safe and to be able to help prevent problems from happening on an Earthsphere scale."

"I can't say that I really want to work with the Preventers," I told him. I really could understand where they were coming from though with their request. Knowledge is power and right now, the Preventers were pretty powerless if they ever needed to do whatever it is that they do if it involved any sort of preternatural. "Are you looking at hiring Preternaturals into your organization, or is this just for information to be used against them?"

"Lady Une would probably welcome having help from anyone at this point. We're not exactly like other law enforcement groups which I hear routinely turn away applicants who are what they consider to be less than human. Some of us working for the Preventers wouldn't exactly be considered employable by other law enforcement agencies. Some of us have less than reputable records."

"We may have some local wererats who might be interested in the Preventers and possibly some others," Micah said. He had been talking to Bobby Lee , too, about the Preventers since Duo and WuFei came to town. "A lot of them were military or police before becoming infected or before being someone discovered that they were infected. Most of them work security around here but I know some of them really miss being on the force."

"I'll talk to Une then, and give you the contact information for the office so that they can contact HR if they want to discuss joining up," the young man said. "The offer still stands, Anita, we do need some education so if you or another Marshall would like to help us out, that would be great."

I thought for a moment and got a brilliant idea. Edward really wanted to meet these boys, maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. They would get their information from a Federal Marshall specializing in the preternatural and Edward could finally meet the gundam pilots. "I think I know someone who may have the expertise you need and the willingness to work with you. I'll set something up for you."

"That would be much appreciated," he replied finally finishing the last of his coffee. "Should we check on the other two to see how they are doing? Maybe they would like more coffee?"

"I'll go and check on them," I volunteered and got up from the table. That left Micah and WuFei alone at the table but I really did want to check on Nathaniel. I turned back to look at them briefly before heading outside. "Thank you for being honest with me, WuFei."

"I just hope that someday, we do earn your trust," he replied.


	15. Chapter 15

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Also - it's a Trowa chapter! No, I didn't forget about him!

(Anita POV)

For the next week, Nate and his brother, who still preferred to be called Duo, spent a lot of time together. They had fifteen years to catch up on. At this point, most of the Pard had been introduced to Duo and his partner, Wu Fei. I was really starting to be amused by seeing everyone's reactions to their similar features. Jason was still houding Duo to do a doubles show at Guilty Pleasures some night with Gregory and Stephen. I'm pretty sure he even had a song picked out for them, too.

I was headed to the Circus for the night though. The boys were hanging out at the house for the night. I think they were going to let Wu Fei cook some ethnic food for them. Jason, the twins, Nate, and Micah were going to be there with Duo and Wu Fei. It was good for them all to hang out like normal guys for a change. Jason was even joking about having poker night some time.

Since it was still during business hours there, I walked into Jean Claude's office at the Circus. I was expecting to just find him there but I seemed to have walked into a meeting already in progress. Not only was Jean Claude there, sitting beautifully behind his desk wearing all black, but Rafael, the Rat King, but Bobby Lee was, too. Seated in the chair opposite my vampire lover, was the No-name boy wearing his black guard shirt. Despite the height that I knew he possessed, he looked tiny sitting there. All of their eyes turned to me as I walked in the office.

"Ah, Ma Petite, you were just in time," Jean Claude said rising to greet me. I walked around his desk to stand beside him. I regarded the young man seated before us. His emerald eyes were down cast and most of his face was hidden by his long bangs.

"In time for what?" I asked.

"It seems that Nanashi here has finally opened up to Bobby Lee about where he's been all of these years," he replied dropping gracefully back down to his desk chair. I stayed standing at his side. "Our esteemed Rat King thought it was imporatant enough information that we needed to be told about it."

I raised my eye brow towards Rafael. His dark eyes were hard to read. His body language was tense and he stood a little ways away from Bobby Lee and the boy. "What does it have to do with us? Is he a security risk?"

"Well, Child," Bobby Lee spoke up. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder while he spoke. He seemed rather paternal towards the youth. "After you spoke to us about the Preventers wanting to reach out to the lycanthropes last week, Nan asked to speak with me in private."

"About what?" I asked and stopped Bobby Lee from continuing to speak. "No, I want Nan to tell us in his own words."

"I'm already a Preventer," he said simply he raised his eyes to look at me. "They know that I'm here, I'm supposed to be learning about the community structure here. They just think I'm a guard and witnessing lycanthrope structure."

"They don't know he's a wererat," Bobby Lee did interrupted. "When we found him as a wee child, he was burnt so badly that we were afraid he wouldn't make it. We went against everything we knew that we were supposed to do and infected him as a child. We weren't sure if he was going to be strong enough to survive the change but he was. He was able to heal the burns faster than a normal human boy could. We thought it was the more humane thing to do instead of letting him suffer and die from his wounds or let the change kill him."

"No one knows that I am a Were," Nan continued. His voice lacked emotion and was very cold. "I bounced around from group to group mostly mercenaries after being separated from the Rodere. I even did a few years at a real travelling circus. My physical strength and agility made me a natural performer there. I wound up in space though, with another mercenary group that was working with the Colonies. I'm a good mechanic so I ended up working on mobile suits. When they were ready to send them to Earth though, the pilot of the suit was killed because he intended to commit mass murder with it. They needed a new pilot who was skilled enough to carry out missions. I took his place and his name and then took the suit to Earth."

I started to get an idea of where this was going. "I take it you know Duo and Wu Fei, then?"

The only give away that I had surprised him was a slight widening of his eyes. "I knew they were in town but had not contacted them yet. But yes, I know them and if you do, I suspect that they have told you exactly who they are then?"

"Yes," I replied. "Have you told Bobby Lee exactly what mobile suit you are talking about though?"

"No, I did not see it necessary to disclose that information or the name that I had used then. Although, it is the same name that I use when I work for the Preventers."

"So getting back to the Preventers," I said realizing that somehow I had taken over the interrogation of the boy who had just told me that he was also a Gundam Pilot like Nathaniel's brother and his partner. "Why are you here spying?"

"They don't have a clue," he replied. "Seriously, my superiors and other enlisted people don't know the first thing about the preternatural community. They had wanted to send someone undercover to investigate without realizing that if the agent was human, they could never have gotten them into any group anywhere. I volunteered to be sent because infiltration is my specialty but I knew that I could get into a group. My intentions were to, over time, feed them information on generalities of various were-group cultures and abilities. I would never give sensitive information to them. I chose to come here to Bobby Lee because I knew he would welcome me without question and I would not disrupt any other Rodere that way."

"How do we know that is all that you were doing? I really don't trust you right now since you've been lying to us the whole time," I was glaring at him but he did not flinch.

"I was going to come to Bobby Lee and Rafael soon about what was going on but Maxwell and Chang kind of threw a wrench in the works," he replied with a shrug. "They don't even know that I am here or what I'm supposed to be doing. Their openning the doors to the Preventers was not a plan that I had been told of before hand. It's coming from above us and more proof that they don't really know what I'm doing here. They don't even know that I'm not entirely human. I've never told anyone."

"Ma Petite, this young rat has had ample opportunity to cause us harm over the last month but has been nothing but obedient and loyal to our Rat King," Jean Claude said taking my hand that had drifted to rest on my gun.

"I will submit to whatever punishment you deem fit for my deception," the young man said lowering his eyes again. "I chose this path because it would be the most protective towards your community here and, well... I..."

Bobby Lee spoke up again, "He just wanted to come home to his people. He's been living away from the wererat community for years. He has been very alone even though he tells me that he has several close friends that he went through the war with. I'm going to have to ask him for more details about that though. It seems that you know more about it than I do, Anita."

"I think, it should be up to the Rats to deal with him," Jean Claude said looking at Rafael.

"I don't know him like Bobby Lee does," Rafael finally spoke up. "I do know that in spite of his young age, or probably because of how young he was when he was infected, he is strong. He could be an alpha in any group he chose to join yet he has done nothing but submit."

"I am a soldier; it is my job to take orders," was all that Nanashi replied.

"From my understanding of the war, you were more than just a soldier," I argued.

"I still took orders even though we did have a little bit more leeway with how they were carried out than what one would normally associate with a soldier."

"We will see to his punishment," Rafael replied.

"Can I stay?" Nanashi asked looking not to his rat king but to Jean Claude and I.

"What do you mean?" I asked him looking deeply into those green eyes.

"I'm not ready to return to the Preventers yet," he replied meeting my gaze. "I have missed living with the Rodere. Space has been so loney for me."

"I will speak to your King about this matter at a later time," Jean Claude said diplomatically. "For now, submit to him and I want you to be truthful to him. Leave nothing out and that will go a long way to earning their trust back."

"Yes, sir," Nanashi said then promptly left with both Bobby Lee and Rafael. I don't know what punishment they were going to give him though. I knew that there had to be punishments to keep their society in line but I did not have to like it. I did not trust the boy but knowing that he was a Gundam Pilot was very interesting. From the sounds of it, though, he had not told the other pilots that he was a wererat.

"So three Gundam pilots in one city," Jean Claude said when we were finally alone. I had told him about Duo and Wu Fei but we had chosen not to let it be common knowledge about the two young Preventers. "It is either very good fortune that they appear to be on our side or should we be worried about another war?"

"I don't know but Nanashi seems different than the other two," I observed. "They have both stressed repeatedly that they are Peacekeepers and only fight to prevent wars now. They have never once used the word 'soldier'. Then again, from what I have heard from both of their backgrounds, they were not trained like that. Duo has joked that Wu Fei was a warrior and that I believe is a more fitting word. I called Duo a terrorist and from what he said he has done, that fits, too. I can't really picture Duo taking orders from anyone."

"From what Bobby Lee had told me before about the nameless one, he lacked what your two boys had," Jean Claude replied.

"What would that be?"

"They had family and loved ones at some point in their childhood where all the young rat had was the Rodere and orders."

"They both eluded to having their own reasons for becoming Gundam Pilots. Nan just admitted to only piloting the mobile suit because he was there at the right place and the right time. He is a true mercenary."

"Oui, ma patite. I am not really sure this young one knows how to be human at all. I think that maybe staying around here and with the help of the Coalition, he may be able to finally find some peace for himself."

"So we're keeping him?" I asked. "We do seem prone to taking in strays around here."

"Most likely but I will talk to Rafael first. He is powerful and would make a strong addition to the local Rodere if he were able to accept that power. He could be a strong leader one day or he could wind up following the wrong person and be an even stronger enemy."

a/n: I've seriously been planning that scene since I started this fic years ago.


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

The last chapter was rather heavy... this one should lighten the mood conciderably.

(Wu Fei pov)

Tonight is guys' night at Pard's base of operations... Nathaniel's house. Duo and I were joining in so we could meet more of his brother's friends. I was going to teach Nathaniel some simple, authentic Chinese food to serve to everyone so we had shown up early to start. Duo hung out with Micah while Nathaniel and I worked in the kitchen. The rest of the guys, who were mostly other dancers at Guilty Pleasures, would be coming later on.

After we had gotten the the meal under control, my cell phone started ringing. I was just going to ignore it but I noticed that it was Yuy calling. Knowing him, he had probably tried calling Duo first and when he didn't asnwer, instead of leaving a message, hung up and called me. He has a tendency to do that. He's not very good with leaving voice mails. I know Duo was trying to convince him to start texting but so far, he seemed fairly reluctant to do it. I had noticed over the years that Yuy did not really even like talking on the phone and prefered to use vid screens or the face-to-face feature on his mobile phone. Thinking of his preference of speaking face to face, I answered the phone's video feature.

I was brought face to face with Heero Yuy who looked to be sitting at his computer in his apartment in Sanq. I angled my phone so that he could see both me and Nathaniel. He didn't notice right away that the video was engaged and just continued stirring dinner.

"Evening, Yuy," I said.

"Chang," he acknowledged. "I tried calling Duo and he didn't asnwer."

"We're getting ready to have dinner with a few friends," I replied hoping that he would take the bait that the person in the camera shot with me was Duo. I was really hoping that I could catch the former Perfect Soldier off guard.

"Then I won't keep you long," he replied glancing to Duo's brother who just continued cooking. "I just heard that the two of you transfered to the St. Louis branch and when I talked to Preventer Po, she let slip that Duo had found family there."

"Yuy, you didn't interrogate Sally did you? You will give that woman a heart attack one day," I scolded.

"No, she actually seemed really excited to tell someone. She told me that Duo found his brother."

"Yeah, I did, Hee-chan!" Duo exclaimed bouncing into the kitchen and draping his arms around both Nathaniel's and my shoulders. "I thought I heard your phone ring. Hiya, Heero... Heero?"

I was actually ignoring what Duo was saying in favor of watching Yuy. His reaction was way better than I had hoped for. At first his eyes went from myself, to Duo, and then to Nathanniel who had finally looked at the phone's vid screen, and then back to Duo. His deep blue eyes got really huge and he fumbled in his chair to look closer at his laptop screen. He ended up tipping his chair and falling to the floor banging his head on the desk.

I could then hear his girlfriend, Relena's concerned voice calling as she approached the screen. Her full attention was on Yuy as he tried to climb back into his chair. "Heero? What happened are you okay?"

"Hello, Princess!" Duo exclaimed pulling her attention to the screen. Her eyes got wide when she noticed the three of us on the screen but she seemed to be able to maintain her dignity unlike her boyfriend. My arm was getting tired of holding the phone out far enough to capture all three of us on the screen.

"Duo and Wu Fei," she said recovering very quickly. "It has been ages. Heero told me that he was calling to check up on you because he hadn't heard from you in a while. I think he was worried."

"I wasn't worried," Yuy said while rubbing his head where he had smashed it into the desk. "I was concerned because they had moved offices without notifying me."

"Dude, I told you, you're not our mom!" Duo teased him. "Actually, a lot has been going on and we should have called you. Sorry about that."

"Is what was going on an illegal cloning experiement?" Relena asked. She kept looking at the brothers like she was waiting for there to be some prank. Yuy seemed to be doing his best interpretation of a deer in the headlights. I couldn't handle it any more and started laughing.

"Heero, close your mouth, you look like a gaping fish," Duo laughed. "I'll explain since you obviously didn't let your pretty little girlfriend in on what Sally told you before calling."

"I'd really like to know what's going on here," said girlfriend replied as she checked Yuy's head since he was still rubbing the bump on his head.

"I'd like to introduce you to my little brother, Nathaniel Graison," he explained using the arm he still had draped over the younger man's shoulders to hug him closer. "Nate, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Heero Yuy, and my favorite princess, Relena Peacecraft-Darlian."

"It's Vice Foriegn Minister not princess, Duo," she corrected. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Graison."

"Uh, hi," was all that the wereleopard could say. Yuy made a noncommital sound that I assumed that was a greeting. I kind of felt bad for both of them as they had been taken rather by surprise.

"How in the world did you find him? I thought you couldn't remember having any family," Relena asked.

"We met at a strip club!"

"You what?" Heero finally was able to vocalize. Before we could say anything else, we were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. It seemed that the rest of the guys had arrived.

"Look, Hee-chan, I will call you tomorrow and tell you," my partner said. "I'm sorry that I didn't call you sooner. I promise though that I will talk to you tomorrow."

"You better, 0600 hours I will expect your call," he replied.

"Mission accepted! I'll talk to you tomorrow," Duo said before ending the call.

"Was that really the Princess?" Nate asked going back to cooking dinner.

"Let's just say, Duo, Heero, and Relena met over a slight disagreement during the first war," I explained.

"Yeah, it seems that Heero was going to shoot her because she witnessed his acts of terrorism, I stopped him, and she disagreed with my actions."

"You what?" his brother asked. "That makes no sense."

"Even if I explained the story in its entirety, it still wouldn't make sense," Duo admitted. "That's okay because I got a best friend out of the deal and he eventually got a girlfriend."

I started to help Nathaniel get the food ready to serve as Duo took some plates over to the table. I was still very amused by Heero's reaction to seeing Duo and his brother together.

"You lead Mr. Yuy on to think that I was Duo on the phone call, didn't you?" Nathaniel asked grinning at me.

"Yuy is a favorite target for Duo because of his reactions," I explained. "I just saw the opportunity and ran with it. I just wasn't expecting such an extreme reaction."

"Wait till Stephen and Gregory see us," Nathaniel said. "They're used to being the only two that look alike around here."


	17. Chapter 17

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei pov)

The dinner party got off to a really nice start. It was a really relaxed atmosphere between all the guys. Everyone seemed really happy to meet Duo and I. As predicted by just about everyone, the twins, Stephen and Gregory, were very excited to see how much Duo and Nathaniel looked alike. Those two men looked exactly identical but I was shocked to find out that one was a wereleopard and the other was a werewolf. It almost seemed a little sad that they were separated by that because otherwise, they seemed really close.

No one seemed to ask any difficult questions of us. I know Duo had become very open with his brother about his life as both a Preventer and a Gundam Pilot before that. It seemed that Nathaniel's promise that his life's secrets would go no farther than him had been kept. The guys did know that we were part of the Preventers but they did not seem to be aware of our high ranks or shady pasts. Micah had told us before that it would not matter to any of the were-people what we had done in the past. They were all used to hiding secrets or leading double lives due to their infection with lycanthropy.

Nathaniel's first foray into cooking authentic Chinese cuisine turned out pretty good. He does have a knack for cooking. It seemed that was something that was purely his talent though because I was pretty sure that if I left Duo alone in the kitchen that he would kill us with food poisoning. Then again, I doubt that my lover's talent for demolitions was shared by his brother. It was hard not to compare the two since they looked so much a like. They acted so different most of the time though but I was really starting to see some big similarities between the two. Nathaniel was very shy whereas Duo always appeared outgoing. I know this observation was only part of the truth. I knew for a fact that Duo was also very insecure about himself but hid it by being overly outgoing. He 'acted' that way to distract people from what he was really feeling. Nathaniel on the other hand acted shy and insecure most of the time but his persona on stage was just as outgoing and open-seeming as Duo's. They had different stages but the same act.

I contiued to observe the brothers' interactions while they played poker with the other guys. I was standing at the counter sipping some tea and staying out of the chaos at the table with cards and poker chips. I was almost taken by surprise when someone walked up beside me at the counter. I looked over to see a very stunning red-head. The paleness of his skin and his utter stillness told me that he was a vampire. Micah had mentioned that their vampire roommate, Damian, would be joining us later in the evening after he awoke for the day. Jason had jokingly told us to not save any dinner for him since he was late.

"Hello," I said bowing my head slightly. A lifetime of habit at bowing in greeting to someone was hard to break even after living mostly in Western Society. "My name is Wu Fei and you must be Damian? Micah said to expect you tonight."

He nodded his impossibly red-head at me. His hair was the color of fresh blood. I was wondering if that was what happened to red hair when it was not exposed to sunlight for a very long time. I caught a glimpse of very green eyes before turning my attention away and back to the card game going on across the room.

"Hello, Wu Fei. I have heard much about you from Nathaniel. He has not quit talking about his big brother since he found him," the vampire spoke. His voice was quiet and very calm.

"I'm sure," I said before taking a sip of my tea. "Duo has been very excited about finally finding out that he did have a family."

"Why aren't you playing cards with the rest of them?" Damian asked me after we had been observing the game in silence for several minutes.

"Because I learned early on never to try to beat Duo at cards," I explained. "He's pretty much got an Eidetic Memory and can remember every card that has been dealt and can count the rest of them and figure out who has what hand with pretty startling accuracy. Then to make matters worse, our friend, who used to work for a circus, taught Duo how to set decks and do some tricks on dealing cards."

"Ah, so not only is he smart, but he cheats," the vampire said. "Isn't he afraid of what people will do if he is caught?"

"Nah, he'll probably laugh it off. It doesn't appear that anyone has caught on yet though," I said with a laugh. "Luckily, they are just playing with chips and he's not actually swindling anyone out of their money."

I spent a good portion of the evening talking with the vampire whom I found out was over a thousand years old. He had also been a viking in his human life. I found it absolutely facinating! He did not seem to want to talk about his life as a vampire but seemed very happy to discuss his life as a viking. I was really starting see vampires as living parts of history. I know that supposedly they are undead but you can't tell me that there is some thing about them alive when you are sitting next to one talking and discussing world history. He moved, breathed (most of the time) and even blinked his eyes. I don't know what the powers were that caused the to die at dawn but sitting right next to me, he seemed very much alive.

At the end of the night, we were sitting on the couch in the living room. Micah was on the phone in another room talking to someone from the Coalition. Duo, Nathaniel and I were on the couch. Damian was on the chair opposite of us. I had somehow wound up in the middle with Duo snuggled up to my right side and Nathaniel doing the same on my left. I was starting to get more comfortable with the wereleopard's tactile nature. It had taken me a long time to get used to Duo's almost constant need for physical contact but I was trying really hard to adjust to his brother. They had explained that were animals were very touchy-feely but I was suspecting that it was just the brother's nature.

"Natty, what do you remember of our home before we were separated?" Duo asked while playing with the end of his braid.

"I only vaguely remember our mom. I can't quite remember exactly what she looked like though. I remember the house, the smell of the musty old couch, and the old mattress that we shared upstairs. We had one of those blankets that had the satin trim around it."

"The blanket's trim was yellow, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," the brother to my left replied. "Most of what I remember was being with you. I also have nightmares about our stepfather."

"Yeah, me, too. I can still see him when I close my eyes but for the life of me, I can't remember anything about him," Duo admitted.

"I remember him, unfortunately," Nate replied. "I tried very hard to remember him so that I could avoid him when I was put in foster care. I hated him so much for what he did to you. I found out later that he had told the hospital staff that treated you for the head injury that I had pushed you down the stairs. It made me hard to place in foster homes because they thought that I was violent. No one believed me that it was him that hit you. I was also very jumpy and terrified all of the time from all of the physical abuse which made me lash out towards other kids and the parents in the foster ho me. I didn't want to hurt anyone but I was so scared of them hurting me."

"I was in a few foster homes on L2 as well after I had been picked up by the Maxwell church," my partner stated. "They kept sending me back. I had a bad habbit of stealing and hoarding food, lashing out when I felt threatened, and running away. I guess our early life really shaded how we viewed the world."

"Yeah, my therapist recently told me that if I would have recieved some sort of emotional help as a child they would have diagnosed me with PTSD and reactive attachment disorder from all of the abuse," Nate explained. "I'm just now learning what those mean and am starting to be able to process through how it affects me in my daily life."

"I'm glad that you're getting help and support," I said to my partner's brother.

"Although, I am glad about some things that happened in my life because ultimately, they brought me here. I am happy now, for the first time," the young wereleopard explained. "We made a family here that is loving and supportive. Then I found you again, Nicky. I know, you want to be called Duo but you will always be Nicky to me."

"I found my family with 'Fei and the other guys," Duo replied hugging into me more. "I'm glad that we found each other again though. But what would really make me happy is to find that dickwad of a stepfather and bring him to justice."

"Why do I get the feeling that you would rathat have him meet the God of Death instead of Justice?" I asked.

"Because you know me very well," he said with a gleam in his eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei pov)

A few nights later, Duo and I were invited to the Circus of the Damned. It was one of the other attractions in town that Jean Claude owned. I was skeptical at first about a circus run entirely by preternaturals but once inside, it strangely made sense. I had been around circuses on several occassions due to our friendship with Trowa but nothing had been like this. It looked like a normal circus and a haunted house had a love child. Normal circus attractions that should have been garishly painted and surrounded by happy faces of children had taken a macabre turn. It was disturbing and facinating all at once. Simple things like pink cotton candy had been replaced with a gray color and called spiderwebs. It didn't stop Duo from eating in spite of the unappealing name and color.

Jason and Nathaniel were showing us the sights within the attraction and explaining some of the inside scoops. The barkers at all of the booths were making us feel oddly compelled to approach them. Jason explained that many of the barkers were actually vampires skilled in using their voices. It was minor vampire tricks that made me uncomfortable but Jason explained that the effects of their voices would disappear as soon as we walked past them. He said that using there were strict laws enforcing them that if the voice tricks were used to force patrons to spend more money, then it would mean execution of the vampire using the trick.

Duo wanted to try all of the booths but we dissuaded him from many of them. I knew from talking to Trowa in the past which ones of the midway games were easist to rig. Finally, we stopped at the booth where you had to throw darts to pop balloons to win prizes. Duo had learned to throw knives from Trowa's adoptive sister, Cathy and thought that he could easily translate that to throwing darts.

"Ah, Nate, this must be your brother that I've heard so much about. Which one of you fine gentlemen would like a chance win one of my lovely plush toys? Who has good eyes and a steady hand?" The man at the booth asked flurishing the darts. He had inhuman eyes and a set of fangs in his mouth. I was learning from Nathaniel and the other lycanthropes to recognize their fellow shifters who had been stuck in their animal forms for too long. They tended to not be able to shift back entirely. I suspected that to be the case with the man here.

Duo excitedly paid the man a few dollars for a chance to throw three darts. The posters behind the balloons were of vintage horror movies. I could see the faces of Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi behind many of brightly colored balloons. "Let's see if this is anything like throwing knives."

He weighed the darts in his skilled hands for a moment before focusing his eyes on the balloons. He raised one dart and looked down the needle-point towards the target. His eyes narrowed slightly before a smirked. He let the first dart fly popping a bright red balloon.

"Good eye, sir! You've won a poster," the shifter said encouragingly. "If you hit two more balloons though, you could trade up for a stuffed animal!"

"Oh, I'm going to hit them both," Duo said. Most people would have thought his confidence to be cocky but I knew better. He was just stating a fact. He was not going to miss. "Which plushies can I choose from?"

"Confident, aren't we?" the shifter asked with a chuckle. He pointed to the sheft off to the left containing all of the prizes. There were stuffed animal versions of many horror movie monsters. "I wouldn't count on being as lucky with your next two darts as you were with the first."

"Oh it wasn't luck," my lover said with a gleam in his eye. His head was actually turned to look at the plush animals as he let both of his remaining darts fly in quick sucession. Two more balloons popped.

"Unreal, man!" Jason exclaimed after watching the feat.

"Do you throw darts on a league or something?" The man running the booth asked. "You weren't even looking at the last two!"

"Nah, never thrown a dart before in my life," Duo explained. "I just figured it wouldn't be too much different than throwing knives."

"Unbelieveable," the man replied.

Duo walked away from the booth with a plush black cat. It had its back arched and mouth open in a hiss. He was hugging it and pretending to pet it like it was a kitten in his arms. I just shook my head at him.

"Why do you need a plushie cat when you have the real thing to hug right next to you?" Jason teased him while slinging an arm around both Duo and his brother.

"Maybe because it's small enough to fit in my suitcase when I'm away on missions and it reminds me of my little brother?"

"Fair enough," Jason said.

My eyes drifted across the crowd in the Circus. I could see families enjoying the bizaare attractions. Within the crowd, a set of green eyes peaking out from behind brown bangs caught my eye. I usually turned away quickly from Trowa when I knew that he was undercover but this time, he caught me eye and smiled. He started walking over to us then. I noted that he was wearing a black t shirt with the word "Security" printed on it below the Circus' logo.

I slipped into speaking Japanese when he approached hoping that no one around us would be able to understand what was being said. It was the common language we used a lot during the war. Japanese along with English were the only two common languages that all five pilots spoke. Duo was learning Mandarin from me and I knew that he spoke pretty fluent Spanish. Quatre spoke Arabic, English, Japanese, and French. Heero really only spoke Japanese and English, that I was aware of. Trowa on the other hand, always appeared to know whatever language was needed in whatever situation he was thrown into. I frankly did not know how many he was fluent in. It is one the reasons he spent so much time undercover was because he could easily fall into speaking any number of languages like a native speaker.

"Working? Is it safe to talk?" I asked him as he approached.

He smirked slightly before replying back in Japanese, "Working but I am free to talk. I'm no longer under cover."

Duo wasted no time in launching himself at our long time friend. He hugged tightly to the slender pilot who had grown to be a full head taller than both Duo and I. "I have missed you man!"

"Well, I see that you already know our newest security," Jason said. "Was that Japanese you three just spoke or Chinese? I'm used to Meng Die yelling at us in Chinese but that didn't sound like it. It just doesn't make sense that you would know Japanese either. I think I'm confused."

"Nanashi, I was going to introduce you to my brother and his partner but it seems that you already know them," Nathaniel said looking between the three of us former pilots. It appeared that Trowa was not using his common name here. He had told me once that he was a nameless soldier in a mercenary group as a child. He must be using that persona here.

"Yes, Nate, these are old friends of mine," the tall former pilot replied. "I actually need to speak with them in private if you can spare them for a bit tonight."

"Somehow I'm not really surprised that you three know each other," Jason said hanging back from the group. "The rumor around Nan here was that he was in the war but no one really had any idea what he did in the war. He is rather tight lipped, your friend. Kinda like you two when the topic of the Wars come up."

"Yeah, the war would be how we all met," Duo explained. "Is there somewhere we could talk to our buddy here?"

"Sure," Jason said leading us through the crowd. "I'll get you set up in a small staff room. You shouldn't be disturbed there."

"You know, I was a little weirded out the first time we met," Nathaniel said to Trowa. "You were staring at me like you had seen a ghost. Now I know why. You should have said something sooner."

"I wasn't able to at the time," Trowa explained calmly. "It was only a day or so before I heard the news around here about you finding your brother. I figured you had found each other and didn't need to say anything after that. I didn't know Duo or you were missing family so I just thought it was a weird coincidence."

We settled into a small staff room that had a water cooler a few chairs and magazines on a table. Jason explained that it was a break room but since it was far away from the main floor, that it was hardly used. He offered to stand guard with Nathaniel for a bit to give us some privacy to talk.

Once the left, we continued to speak to each other in Japanese. It seemed to be the safest language to speak around here since even if Jason and Nate could hear through the door, they would not be able to understand what we were saying.

"So you're Une's clown at the Circus?" Duo joked as we settled in the chairs.

"Yes, as you know, she wanted someone to infiltrate and gather information regarding the preternatural community," our fellow pilot explained. "I broke cover here after you two extended the offer to recruit shifters to the Preventers. It was no longer prudent for me to remain undercover."

"Sorry for that, Une had suggested with open up communications with the community here after we discovered Duo's brother," I apologized. "That doesn't explain why you are still working here since they know you are a Preventer."

"I asked Jean Claude and his security team if I could stay for a while after I came clean," Trowa explained. "They were not pleased that I had come to them under false pretenses. I have been... reprimanded... by the Rodere since then and am just no returning to work security."

"Reprimanded by the rats?" Duo asked incredulously. "Do I even want to know what that means?"

"Not really. I broke their trust. I knew Bobby Lee and few others from my days in the mercenary groups in Europe as a child. That's how I got the job in the first place. Bobby Lee vouched for me and I had lied to him," he explained looking down at his hands. "They were more upset that I had lied to them than with my actually being a Preventer."

"It's not like you don't lie all the time with all of your other infiltration missions," I said watching as our close friend appeared to be very upset by what had transpired. "What was so different this time? You seem to be really upset about this."

"I told you both before about the mercenary group that saved me as a small child, right?" Trowa said looking up into both of our faces. "I left out the part where the group was all wererats that saved me. If it wasn't for them, I would have died from the burns. I still don't know exactly what happened before the accident, but I was close to death when they found me and all alone. They were actually contemplating killing me because of how badly I had been burned. They thought it was more humane than letting a child suffer horrifically from the extent of my injuries."

"They turned you, instead," I blurted out. The pieces had finally clicked into place. We had been hanging out with lycanthropes over the last few weeks almost exclusively. I had always thought our friend here moved with an unnatural grace. Some of the stunts that I saw him pull both on the battlefield and at the circus had almost seemed inhuman. I recalled all of those times on missions where he seemed to withdraw from the group. He had never stayed around us for any length of time and always seemed to separate himself from us. If I had known that there were such things as lycanthropes back in those days, I'm betting that those times he seemed to disappear would have coincided with full moons.

Trowa's eyes widened slightly with my words. "Yes, I've been a wererat since childhood. I can pass very well for human though and have spent most of my life hiding it. I didn't want any of you to know because I wasn't sure how you would take it. Unfortunately, after having to come clean with my Rodere here, part of my punishment was outing myself to my best friends. They thought a fitting punishment for someone who contiuously lies about himself was to tell the truth to those he feels closest, too. It's not a normal punishment by any means since most of the shifters regard discretion above all else."

"Can I see you shift sometime?" Duo ask our friend. "I've seen some wolves and the kitty cats shifted and it's beautiful. I haven't see a rat yet. I bet you look really badass."

"Now?" Trowa asked him.

"Natty told me that only the really powerful weres can shift back and forth between forms quickly, so since you're working right now, I can take a raincheck."

"Oh, it won't be a problem," Trowa responded pulling his shirt off over his head. "I've been doing this since I was kid. I can shift for you and back before my break's done for work. I'll be a bit tired but it's not a problem."

I shared a look with Duo while our friend shed the rest of his clothing. I guess his lycanthrope did explain his lack of modesty even back during the war. He had always had the tendency to just start changing his clothes between shows at the travelling circus while he was talking to us backstage. We always thought it was just a performer thing, but it was probably a shifter thing.

I was intrigued by his admission that he could shift and return to human form without much effort. From what we had been learning from Duo's brother and his friends, you had to be pretty powerful and high ranking in the pack to be able to shift like that. Although, not knowing a whole lot about shifters, it could just be because he had spent most of his life as a shifter since he had been infected so young.

He had us stand back to avoid splatter. I heeded his warning because I remembered Jason shifting for us not too long ago. The young werewolf took great joy in sending goop out in all directions as his fur almost rolled out of his body. It was disgusting then concidering that he effectively drenched Duo and I in the warm, sticky liquid. Duo had about thrown up because he hadn't shut his mouth when it happened and got some of it in his mouth.

Trowa's shifting wasn't nearly as abrupt or disgusting as Jason's had been. He just sort of made this graceful, rolling shift as bones seemed to change shape under his skin and muscles shifted and reformed before our very eyes. He seemed to grow even taller as the dark grey fur grew out of his skin. His eyes lost their emerald-like hue in favor for a dark shade that had the most inhuman shine to them. When he was done, there was nothing left of his body, besides his height and litheness that reminded us of our friend. His face was pulled into a snout complete with some whiskers. His body was very muscular which could be seen through the dark fur. His tail hung behind his very strong-looking legs. Instead of looking like a larger version of the animal like the wolves or leopards did, his form looked more anthropomorphic. He really did look like a cross between a rat and a human.

"Amazing!" was all that I could say to our friend.

Duo reached out and touched his friend's furry arm. "That is so cool!"

"This doesn't freak you out?" Trowa asked. His voice was very close to how it was in human form despite coming from an entirely different mouth.

"Nah, you're still our Trowa!" Duo said launching himself at our friend. He hugged him just the same as he had out on the Circus floor when he was still in human form.

"So you get furry once a month," I said. "It doesn't make you any less our friend. It just adds another aspect to yourself."

"Really? You're okay with this?" He asked still hugging Duo to his fur-covered chest.

"Don't get me wrong," Duo said looking up at him even further than he normally had to. "I'm a little hurt that you felt the need to hide who you were from us but the fact that you are lunarly challenged does nothing to our friendship. Anyone who has a problem with it can fuck off!"

"Does Quatre know?" I asked him. I know the two had been very close during and after the war. As far as I knew, they had been best friends for years.

"No," he replied. "I've been too afraid to tell him. It's kind of why I don't spend as much time around him any more."

"You need to tell him," Duo insisted. "He was just whining to me that he thought he said something to piss you off because you've been very distant from him lately. And seriously, you think he'd have a problem with you being a wererat? He's from a family of testtube babies and he's got his own set of not quite human shit. He's a freaking empath. I think he would be the least likely to shun someone for being a little beyond the typical definition of human."

"Duo has a point," I agreed. "And really, I'd pay money to see Yuy's reaction to you shifting in front of him. It was funny enough to see his reaction to Duo and Nate together."

"Yeah, the poor guy fell out of his chair and hit his head!" Duo explained.

"I will tell them soon," Trowa insisted. He pulled back from Duo before shifting back to his human form. It was all fluid muscle movements and mesmerizing. "I'll have to tell Lady Une at some point, too."

He started to redress as we sat back down in our chairs. "I think I'm going to take a leave from the Preventers for a while."

"Oh?" Duo said while leaning back in his chair. "Why is that?"

"It's been so many years since I've lived with any group of shifters that I had forgotten what it was like," he replied while tucking his black shirt back into his trousers. "I forgot how much it felt like home to be amoung my people."

"So you've been reunited with your family, too," I supplied. "I can see how wanting to spend some time sorting this all out would be helpful. I don't think Lady Une would have a problem giving you some time off once she knows what's been going on."

"Hell, I think she'd want to keep you happy and ready to come back at any time especially since you could provide her with a ton of inside knowledge about how the shifter community works," Duo said. "I mean, she's been grilling us lately but it's not like we know any useful information. Although, Natty's been helping us understand what it's like to be furry."

"I'm surprised she isn't pressing you more," Trowa said taking his seat once again. "Seeing as your brother is tied so closely to the most powerful group of preternaturals in the country."

"Huh?" Duo said snapping his head up to look at our friend.

"You didn't know?"

"Not a clue," I replied for Duo. "We know Nate is living with and in a relationship with Ms. Blake who is dating the Master of the City as well."

"What do you know about Anita?" Trowa asked wearily.

"She's a Federal Marshall, works for the local police in their RPIT team, and aslo has a job as an animator raising people from the dead for money," I said frowning. "What else should we know?"

"She's not an animator. That would be like saying that we were just mobile suit pilots instead of Gundam pilots. She's a necromancer. Animators can raise the recently dead and control them. She has power of all dead as a necromancer. She is powerful in her own right but her ties to Jean Claude are what makes St. Louis the most powerful city in the USA for preternaturals."

"Her ties? I thought they were dating?" Duo asked.

"They are but the word is that she is his human servant," Trowa explained. "They share a powerbase. As a vampire, his animal to call are the wolves. There is a very large, powerful pack here. Jason, your brother's best friend, is Jean Claude's personal wolf to call. Anita on the other hand, can call cats. She, in some way that I'm not really sure, shares some vampire powers due to her ties to Jean Claude and her necromancy. The leopards are hers and your brother is her personal wereleopard much like Jason is Jean Claude's. She's also somehow tied to the vampire that lives with them. She has her own powerbase with them outside of her one with the Master of the City."

"Interesting," I said. That was a lot more information than Duo's brother or his friends were wiling to share with us so far. "Why are you telling us this?"

"You need to know to keep you safe," Trowa admitted. "They are powerful so that draws attention to them from outside the city. They've been attacked before and they probably will again. There are groups that are afraid of St Louis and wish to bring them down."

"Is my brother in danger?"

"He has been since he's been in the city," Trowa replied. "But don't worry too much about him. He is well protected by those who love him. Regardless of how powerful the group is here, they are well loved by the preternatural community in St Louis. They have done so much to help the community here that even groups not tied to them directly, like the wererats, have made treaties with them to provide protection. We have pledged ourselves to protect them and we are under Jean Claude's protection as well. It's a good arrangement."

"I'm really glad that you told us," I said to our friend. "I know it's not everything that's been going here but I get the impression that it would take years to figure out everything. The groups are so very organized and there actually seems to be a great deal of politics going on under the surface."

"The general public has no clue how organized vampire and shifter groups really are or have been over the centuries," Trowa said looking at his watch. "I need to be getting back to work. Thank you for letting me speak with you. I really appreciate your understanding."

"No problemo, Tro," Duo said hugging him again. "I'm just glad that you don't feel the need to hide from us any more. We need to hang out more since we're all in town."

"That would be nice," he replied.

A/N: HOLY FUCKING LONG CHAPTER, BATMAN!


	19. Chapter 19

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei pov)

Duo and I were about to leave the break room after Trowa walked out when we heard a commotion in the hallway. Just then, a rather nondescript looking blond man walked in. He was wearing jeans and a dark shirt and jacket. Both Jason and Nathaniel were trying to disuade the man from entering the room. I met the man's cold as ice blue eyes. They were beyond icy, they were practically emotionless. Those eyes reminded me of another blue-eyed man I knew. They felt just as dangerous.

"Look, Mr. Forrester," Jason said still trying to steer the man back out of the room. "They were just talking to their friend. You can talk to them at the Preventers office tomorrow."

"Kid, I'm not here to harm them," the man identified as Mr. Forrester replied. His voice was practically devoid of any accent. I suspected that with his looks and voice, he could blend in just about anywhere with ease. "Anita told me they were here so I thought I'd stop by and say hello."

"Well, excuse me if I don't exactly believe your motives are purely friendly. I've known you too long," our werewolf friend replied. "You're usually only around when something needs dead. Neither of them need dead."

"I rather prefer being alive right now," Duo said leaning his hip on the table in the room. "Who's your friend here, bro?"

The man in question just stood there sizing us up. His whole posture felt like he was challenging us. Duo was keeping his stance relaxed but from knowing him for so long, I could tell that his fingers were inches away from pulling a weapon. I, on the other hand, did not hide behind a nonchalant mask. I glared at him from where I stood near my partner. I let my eyes become every bit as cold as his were. Nathaniel had been looking at us and was visibly shaken. He actually took a step back closer to his friend.

We had what Duo would refer to as a Mexican standoff. No one spoke and no one moved. I was waiting on him to draw down on us. I did not know what he wanted but I was more than ready to kill him if he threatened us.

"So you boys are two of the infamous Gundam pilots? I was expection you to be taller," he said with a distinct drawl to his voice. His whole posture changed from the threatening one he had walked in with to a more relaxed one. "Or at least older. You're nothing but kids."

"How did you..." I started to ask wondering how he knew of our rather sordid pasts.

"Wait," Jason interrupted. His voice was actually shaking. "You two were Gundam pilots? Why did you tell us?"

"It was restricted information," Duo explained calmly never taking his eyes off of the blond man that outted us. "It's not like we're at liberty to tell people. There are a very select few who know this. I'm just wondering who this schmuck is to have that information."

Nathaniel was looking at his older brother. It was hard to read him as to what he was feeling in regards to the revelation on exactly what we did during the war. I know Duo had wanted to tell him but we had been entered the Preventers and escaped prosecution as war criminals as long as our identities remained a mystery.

"The name's Edward but you might know me as the Federal Marshall Ted Forrester," the man supplied leaning on the door frame. "I was the Marshall that Anita so nicely offered up to speak with your Commander regarding preternaturals. And before you ask, I have my own connections and figured out who you were without her help."

"What are those connections?" I asked him letting my anger at the situation shade my tone of voice. I knew Anita had initially sought out information on us and figured out who we were and I was guessing it was from this man.

"I am at no more liberty to say that than you were to say what your roles in the war were."

"Hey, I've heard of you before," Duo said smirking. He was up to something either silly or stupid or both really. "You're the Marshall everyone calls 'Death', right?"

"I have been called that by some... people," Edward replied eyeing my partner up.

"They you better bow down and worship your god then, Shinigami!" Maxwell said standing up straighter and placing his hands on his hips. His cocky grin faultered after a moment when he realized that the blond man was just staring at him indiferently.

"I'm confused," Jason interjected. "If that's some movie reference, even I don't get it."

Duo looked over his shoulder at me shrugging. "I guess expecting this city to be multi-cultural was a little much. They know their nonhumans but they don't know anything beyond their Anglo-Saxon roots. Geesh, you'd think they'd have at least heard of the 'God of Death' before!"

"God of Death?" Nathaniel finally broke his silence.

Duo ran fingers through his bangs in frustration. I patted him on the shoulder and told him, "It's no fun making a joke when your audience doesn't get your reference."

Duo just waved me off shaking his head. He just waved his hand dismissively and explained, "They call you Death because of your effectiveness at killing and they call me the God of Death, or Shinigami in Japanese, because I'm better."

"Better?" Nathaniel asked still obviously trying to figure out what was going on with his brother. "Edward is the best that is. Anita learned from him."

"No, kitty-cat," Edward said finally smiling. "These boys' death tolls far exceed mine. Some of them have entire colonies' worth of populations that they've killed. I just kill one at a time like a normal human."

"We're just mere-mortals ourselves," Duo countered without denying our mortality rates. It did seem that Edward had done hsi research on us. I still wished I knew where he got his information. "Our weapons of execution just happened to be much larger than yours. Don't blame yourself, blame the equipment."

The Federal Marshall let out a bark of laughter at that comment. "I like you two. You're fun."

"And before you ask," Duo joked pulling a knife seemingly from thin air. I knew he had several hidden on his body even after going through all the security points before entering the Circus. "No, you can't play with our toys."

"How did you get that through security?" Jason asked. "They aren't going to like that you've done that twice now."

"Yeah, I'd like to know since they made me strip off all of my 'toys' before coming in here tonight," the older man said. "I've tried everything over the years to sneak stuff in here with no luck. I usually just have to bribe Anita with a new gun just to keep the basics on me."

"Cloaking device," Duo said with a grin. I was completely surprised that he was willing to give away what he called a 'trade secret'. "I modified the design of the one from my Gundam to work on a personal level. I hide them well enough a pat down won't reveal them and then the cloaking device hides them from sensors, x-rays, and metal detectors. Pretty ingenious, huh?"

"Got a spare one?" Edward asked with a grin equally Duo's.

"Nope. Gave my last one to 'Fei and he won't share."

"Can't have it falling into general use now," I said with a smirk. "We let someone other than the two of us have one and then at some point in the future, someone will actually figure out how it works and either copy it or build a machine to counteract it."

"So I can't even bribe you with other weapons?"

"Not when we've had the best toys in the world to play with," Duo said stepping closer to the man. "Nothing else in the world is quite as enticing any more."

"I see what you mean," Edward said before extending his hand to Duo. "It was nice meeting with you boys. I'll be calling your Commander Une tomorrow about filling in some details on the preternatural front for her."

We both shook his hand before he left us alone in the break room with the werewolf and wereleopard. Duo was left scratching the back of his head trying not to look too uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his brother. We had hoped to keep him from knowing exactly what our roles had been during the war. We thought it best that he not know what kind of killers we had been. Duo felt that he had been protecting his brother from knowing about his past.


	20. Chapter 20

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. This chapter is entirely Lindsey Ann's fault. I told her I was thinking about doing it but wasn't sure. She told me to just tie Wu Fei to a chair and make him do it.

(Wu Fei pov)

"Tell me again, why we are here?" I said to no one in particular.

I looked around the room we were in. There were mirrors everywhere lining the wall. Along the one, there was a barre. Thankfully, the only ones in the room with me were Duo, Nathaniel, Jason, and the twins - Stephen and Gregory. My partner and I were wearing sweats while the others were wearing actual leotards. They had not been kidding when they said that they all were studying dance. I really felt out of my element here.

"Because you owe Nathaniel for keeping secrets from him," Jason offered.

"It was not like we had a choice about it," I whined. I knew I was whining but I didn't care. I did not have much dignity left around these guys. "The two of us are fine with people knowing what we did in the war, it's just that we don't want to implicate our associates. Some of them have more at stake than we do."

"I know," Nathaniel said. "But you and Duo both promised to make it up to me by doing anything."

"I should have realized you'd want us to strip with you as repayment," Duo interjected wiping sweat off of his brow.

"If you really don't want to do it, you don't have to," Nathaniel said to his brother without trying to mask his disappointment. Duo put his arm around his younger brother to placate him.

"Nah, it'll be fun," my partner said. "Besides, when else am I going to get to see my sexy boyfriend strip on stage?"

"Break's done, boys," Jason said putting his water bottle down and standing up. "Back to work!"

Jason was a slave-driving perfectionist when it came to dance. Through the next week, he worked with us every day after we had our work at the Preventer's office and before they had their night jobs at Guilty Pleasures. It was Thursday night and they were calling it a pre-dress rehearsal. It was our first time practicing the routine on the actual stage. Stephen and Gregory were sizing us for costumes and discussing make up with us. Friday night would be our dress rehearsal proper and then Saturday, we'd dance on stage with an actual audience.

"I need you to strip for me," Stephen said while standing entirely too close to me.

"I thought that's what we were doing," Duo joked with him.

"No, we have some clothes for you two to try but we need to see how they fit and if they need altered," Stephen's brother Gregory explained carrying a garment bag.

"Nathaniel's costumes should work pretty good for Duo," Stephen explained. "They are of a similar build. We just really need to see you, Wu Fei, and figure out what we're working with."

I tried to remind myself that I was just stripping down in front of people who dealt with nude people all of the time but it was still a little awkward. I was down to my underwear and hesistated. I was not sure how far they wanted me to strip for the costume fitting. I knew on stage, we were definitely not stripping any further than that. I lifted my gaze to my lover's face. I tried to just focus just on him to keep my mind off of my near nudity.

"Damn! You were hiding all that under your bulky clothes? That should be a crime!" Jason exclaimed causing my face to flame as I whipped my head around to glare at him. He was downright leering at me. Jason had told us that he was straight but was rather flexible when it came down to it.

Duo wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me flush to him. "Hands off, boys. Remember, this one is mine!"

"Well," Nathaniel said walking over to us. "Just remember that for one night, we have to share him at least on stage."

"Duo, we need you over here to try on this costume," Gregory said pulling my partner away from me.

Stephen had me standing with my arms out as he circled around me. He actually had a tape measure out and was checking measurements of my body. He was very professional about it which was reassuring considering Jason was still leering at me.

"Are these scars from knife wounds?" Stephen asked me tracing several around my abdomen and back.

"Not all of them," I replied trying to see which ones he was asking about. "Those two are, that one is from a sword, and most of the rest of them are from shrapnel. The one on my shoulder though, was a bullet wound."

"Hmm... do you want them covered? I can do some pretty good make up to at least make them not as noticeable."

"Nah," I replied rubbing my thumb over the circle on my shoulder. That one had really hurt and I remember how upset it had made Duo. We had been working with the Preventers at the time and the mission had kind of gone sideways. "I earned every one of them."

"Fair enough," the blond-haired shifter said circling me again. "Although, I'm thinking a little body paint would be just delicious. Your skin tone is just like caramel. I'm thinking the red and gold costume would best suit you."

Stephen helped to dress me in a costume that really was all crimson and gold. The pants were very tight and black. Underneath was a gold thong. I was not used to wearing those style underwear but after Stephen had me in them, I was afraid he was not going to let me put my pants on again. I actually had to fend Jason off of trying to grab my ass. He was adjusting the crimson-shaded silk shirt on me after I was allowed to put the costume pants on.

"You just do martial arts?" he asked. "You have excellent musculature for not lifting weights or anything."

"I've been doing it since I was a small child," I replied. We continued on with our small talk until we were interrupted by Jason wolf-whistling and yelling.

"Hot Damn! I think Fei and I are on the set of a porno-fantasy! You two are practically twins! And with our actual twins here, it's like a wet dream."

I looked first to Stephen and his twin brother Gregory realizing for the first time that they were were dressed exactly the same in leotard pants and shirtless. I turned around to look at where Duo had been working on his costume with Gregory. I did not the God of Death that I was used to but what really looked like two Nathaniels. Both were wearing pale lavender shirts and very tight fitting pants. What was really striking was that they both had their long, loose hair pulled up in high pony tails. I rarely got to see Duo with his hair out of its customary braid. He was always very private about his hair which had only grown longer since the war. Dressed like that, the only way to tell the difference between the brothers was that Duo's torso was littered with scars similar to mine. They were the hazards of our career path.

I was staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights. The two looked at each other and shared a wicked grin before turning to stalk towards me. They looked dangerous and sexy all at the same time. Both of them looked like predators hunting their prey. I was not sure if it was a good thing or not that I was their intended prey.

"God, this is going to be the best show ever!" Jason exclaimed. "Come on, let's try the routine from the top."

Two nights later found us backstage at Guilty Pleasures. There had been some tweaking of costumes due to Stephen and Gregory's desire to use body paint on me. I was dressed all in black with the gold thong underneath. My hair was pulled back in its typical tail but I knew that it wouldn't last long. Duo and Nathaniel were dressed as if they were twins. The audience had not been told about "Brandon" (Nathaniel's stage name) having a brother. They were playing up the likeness of the brothers by giving my partner the stage name "Brendan". After much arguing, mostly from me, I was just being billed as "The Dragon". No one in the audience was aware that Duo and I were not preternaturals but it would be implied that Duo was leopard like his brother. They were aiming for something more exotic for me.

I was quite uncomfortable with the whole situation but as Duo had told me, we were not ourselves on stage. We were a fantasy. No one would know that we were the dancers unless we told them. Although, I had to admit, the dramtic eye liner that had been applied did something almost magical to my eyes. Duo and his brother just looked like sex poured into their matching outfits. That fantasy where you got it on with twins, I could definitely see where that came from. The reality would be really weird but seeing them dressed like that suspendend reality for a little bit.

All too soon, the three of us were on stage. Jean Claude was announcing the set himself. He was employing some of his voice tricks to pique the interest of the crowd. I was pretty sure that would not be needed with my two dance partners.

"Beloved fans, we here at Guilty Pleasures have a special surprise for you tonight," the vampire spoke commanding the entire room's attention. "Not only is our precious Brandon going to grace us with his fantastic dancing skills but he has brought Brendan along with him. Watch as they try to capture and seduce the mysterious Dragon. Never has something so exotic and dangerous ever danced on this stage."

The music started and the spot light hit us. You could hear a collective gasp from the women in the crowd. When we started moving, the screams started. We moved across the floor. At first it was if the two were chasing me while I evaded them. They split and circled me. When they were close enough, their hands were on me. I moved with them. We swayed. I grasped at them and their shirts came off. My hands trailed down their chests as they pushed me back. I focused on their matching violet eyes. Duo's looked as nervous as I felt while Nate's were encouraging.

They backed me up to a strategically placed chair. I fell into it heavily. Nate circled around behind the chair and held me in place while Duo climbed onto my lap and slowly lifted my black shirt above my head. His body ground into mine which would have been arousing in any other circumstance but on stage with an audience, it was petrifying. I found myself being secured to a chair with a silver chain supposedly to capture the Dragon. Nate's hands drifted down my chest from behind before he whipped around sending his lengthy pony tail spinning after him. He had yanked the band holding my hair back and it spilled forward around my shoulders.

The brothers switched places as they teased me to tantilize the audience. I played my part of the dangerous dragon by glowering at them. They danced and moved and spun and stripped. Soon they were down to their silk thongs. They had moved around so much that to the audience, it would have been too hard to figure out which one was Brandon and which was Brendan. Closer up, the view was easier. I could see the make up that the actual twins had applied to Duo to lighten his scars from his battle wounds.

Just as the music was rising to a fenzied pace, a gong sounded and I rose from the chair. There had been pyrotechnics set up to simulate a dragon's fire as I "broke" free from the chains holding me on the chair. I moved forward towards towards them. I wrapped my arm through Nate's pony tail and pulled his head back. My other hand slid from his neck down his chest but before I could reach lower, Duo pulled my arm back. We struggled slightly while I still kept my grip on his brother's hair. My hand found the back of Duo's neck and I pulled him to me.

We kissed on stage in front of an audience that was going wild. Nathaniel tried to pull me from his brother but I only tightened my grip on his hair. I could barely make out an excited noise coming from the back of his throat before the music swelled around us. As the last notes of the song played, I pushed both brothers away from me in separate directions as I turned my back to the crowd. The cymbals crashed and the lights on stage flashed like lightining. I could hear a gasp from the crowd as they finally caught a glimpse of the intricate chinese style dragon painted on my back as I stalked off as the lights faded. The twins had painted it on with crimson and gold paint. They had assured me it looked like it was alive and moving on my skin over the muscles in my back. The women either screamed for that work of art or the fact that the thong showed off my entire back side which Duo had always insisted was fantastic.


	21. Chapter 21

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. Everyone take their cold shower after that last chapter?

(Wu Fei pov)

Backstage was a frenzie. Jason was handing us towels and the twins had robes for us to put on. There were so many people trying to talk to us all at once. I could still hear the crowd carrying on. My heart was pounding and sweat was pouring off of my body.

"Are you sure that you two don't want a permanent job here?" Jason asked us. "I thought Nate here was going to lose it on stage when you yanked his hair like that. You didn't do it like that in rehearsal. I didn't know you had that much of a Dom in you."

"I didn't know either," Nathaniel said draping himself over me. "You can do that to me any time. You'll share this beautiful creature, won't you, Nicky?"

"Hey, now," Duo said draping his equally sweaty form over me much as his brother had. "Bro, you know I love you and would do anything for you and as hot as it was to see Fei go all dominant on you on stage, I don't think our Dragonling here could handle two of us. He'd probably get a nose bleed just thinking about it. Stripping was so outside of his realm of comfort that sharing him may be too much. You don't want to break him."

Jason, Nate, and Duo continued to laugh and joke. I was lost in thought regarding the situation. I was so not comfortable on stage but the actual dancing with Duo and his brother, that was actually pretty interesting. I know in practice I had pulled Nate's hair slightly to theatrically pull his head back. On stage, my anxiety took over and I was a little rougher than I had planned initially. When I started to realize that the lycanthrope whose hair I was pulling on was really getting into it, I had yanked harder. I enjoyed the sound he made. I knew that he was strong enough to tear me limb from limb but that moment, I felt like I was the powerful one. I wondered if Duo would have the same reaction to a little more force.

I was pulled out of my musings by seeing someone in the crowd back stage talking to Jean Claude. I had stopped walking towards the dressing room which in turn made the two leeches attached to me - namely Duo and Nate, stop. Jason about bumped into us before he realized that we had stopped walking. He looked over to where I was staring.

"Jean Claude said that he was going to be negotiating with some big-wig tonight from space. He said something about contracting building materials from the mining business," Jason explained. "Sometimes he invites the people he's negotiating with to the club for a little free entertainment. I can't blame him, sex sells, right?"

"Who is that?" Nathaniel said looking at the young man in an expensive suit talking with the Master of the City. "He looks familiar."

I looked to Duo and he was looking at me. I was starting to get really embarrassed by realing that there really had been people in the audience watching us strip. I was pretty sure that a threesome with Duo's baby brother would be less awkward feeling that the embarrassment I was feeling right then.

"Want to see if I can embarrass him?" Duo asked me with a wicked gleam in his eyes. I just raised my eyebrow at him before he went bounding off towards the two business owners. His silk robe fell off of his shoulders as he moved through the crowd. He ran right up to the blond and practically jumped on him.

"Quatre! What are you doing here? It's been entirely too long!"

"Du-Duo!" Our blond friend stammered trying to maintain some semblence of dignity while being hugged by a man wearing only a thong.

"You two know him?" Jason asked incredulously. "That's like the richest man in the world and he's like our age."

"Who is he?" Nate asked again.

"That's Quatre Winner! He's the sole heir to a huge fortune from his family on L4. He runs a huge mining company in space and had a plethora of other businesses all over the Earthsphere," our wolf-ish friend replied. He was starting to sound like a bit of a fan-boy towards our friend.

"He's actually one of my best friends," I explained not holding back the smug look on my face.

I picked up Duo's discarded robe and walked over to them. Jason and Nate trailed behind me with their mouths agape. If Jean Claude was shocked by this turn of events, he was hiding it very well.

"I did not know that you were aquainted with Monsieur Winner," the elegant vampire said to Duo and I.

"Yeah, we go way back," Duo said ambiguously. He was still physically attached to Quatre while the blond was trying to ignore the state of undress that he was in.

"Indeed," Jean Claude said raising an eyebrow at my partner. He was a very astute man and could probably guess that our association was due to the wars. "Maybe I should have ask him here on a different night seeing as it was your debut tonight."

"Yeah, Kitty-Quat," Duo said settling his chin on his friends shoulder while he still hung on to him like an octopus. Duo proceeded to grind his body into the unsuspecting man. "What did you think of our little show?"

Quatre, bless his heart, started coughing and his face turned bright red.

I pulled Duo away from him and wrapped his robe around his nearly-naked form. "You really have no shame, do you?"

"Not really, but you knew that and love me anyways."

I just shook my head at my partner. He really was correct. "You keep up harrassing Quatre, then we will see how you like your hair pulled."

Duo 'eeped' and jumped back away from me. He pulled his pony tail of loose hair over his shoulder and clutched it for dear life. I could hear Jason chuckling behind me.

"I had no idea that you two were going to be on stage," Quatre said. "I was pretty much in disbelief for most of it. And Duo, I knew you said your brother and you looked alike but I thought you were exaggerating."

"Yeah, we kind of were guilted into going on stage, although it was really fun," Duo explained.

"His brother, Nate, over here," I explained as a way to introduce the quiet wereleopard still standing next to me. "Was a little hurt when our... job history, came to light that Duo had not been the one to tell him."

"Ah, I see," Winner replied. "Hello, Nathaniel, I am your brother and Wu Fei's friend, Quatre. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

The now-shy lycanthrope mutely shook our friend's extended hand. We introduced Jason as well who was now outright leering at Quatre. I was amused by the werewolf's flirtation with him.

"You two gentlemen seem to know the most interesting people," Jean Claude said.

"Our jobs tend to cross paths from time to time," Quatre explained. He was the one that was trying very hard to not out himself as a Gundam pilot. He was not ashamed of his involvment in the war but his family was known for being pacifists. His family's company was based on very anti-war principles and he did not want to ruin his company's standing. His entire family and all of his staff worked very hard and all it would take was one tabloid to get wind of Quatre's less than completely pacifist ways and it could mean some very bad things for his coporation.

"Hey," Duo said trying to change the topic. "Are you going to stop and see clown-boy while you're in town?"

"That's part of why I am here in person," our blond friend explained. "He called me a few days ago saying he wanted to talk about something important. To me he felt nervous but strangely more at peace than he's ever been. You two wouldn't happen to know what he wants, would you?"

"We do but it's his story to tell," I replied.

"He felt?" Jason said leaning in closer to Quatre. "What did you mean by that?"

"I... uh... am kind of an empath," Quatre explained. "I'm not very good at it but I can always feel my friends."

"You feel their emotions, Monsieur Winner?" the master vampire asked looking intrigued.

"Yes, but I'm not trained," he replied. "I can feel my friends the easiest but I can also feel anyone nearby who is experiencing really strong emotions. Sometimes, with people I just met, I can feel a little bit of what they are when I touch them. That's kind of new to me so I'm not really sure how to control it."

"You are very talented indeed, young man," Jean Claude encouraged. "Why don't you try your skill on Duo's brother here. See if you can tell what he is feeling."

"Um, alright, but I've never really tried it on someone who is a shifter before," he explained. "I don't know if it would be any different."

I shared a look at Duo who smirked at me.

"What do you need me to do?" Nathaniel said stepping closer to Quatre.

"Let me touch you, ah, here, over your heart," he explained extending his pale hand. "For some reason, it tends to be stronger here."

Quatre's hand made contact with the bare skin of Duo's brother's chest. For a moment, his eyes closed before snapping open. He quickly withdrew his hand.

"That was odd," Quatre said holding his hand to his chest.

"What was odd?" Nathaniel asked looking worried.

"I didn't feel emotions, I don't think," Quatre explained shaking his head as if to clear it. "I felt something untamed and wild just under the surface trying to meet my touch. It was odd because, I've never met a lycanthrope before but it felt oddly familiar."

"Interesting," was all that Jean Claude said.


	22. Chapter 22

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Trowa POV)

I had come out of the furry-closet to Maxwell and Chang last week. I had been dreading tell anyone that I had known from the Preventers. I had spent so much of my life hiding the fact that I was a wererat that I almost felt like I was going to betray myself by finally being open about it. One would think that I would feel differently about that since I had been infected at such a young age. Due to the fire or whatever it was that caused my injuries as a child coupled with my very young age, I could not remember my life before being found the mercenary group. My earliest memories were of being a lycanthrope. You'd think that I would be more comfortable with it than I was.

I figured talking to those two first would be the easiest out of everyone. Maxwell had seemed to adjust to learning that his long lost baby brother was a wereleopard pretty easily. I was not sure what Chang's opinion on the matter was but I knew that they all had been hanging out a lot with Nathaniel and his friends. I was surprised when they took it all in stride and even more surprised when they asked me to shift for them. That was not what I had anticipated their reaction to be. It was also with their encouragement that I called Quatre.

I couldn't tell him over the phone. It just seemed like something too personal for me to do anyway but face to face. He agreed to meet with me because he was coming to town anyways. He had said that he had been in negotiations with the Master of the City on building materials from his company's mines. He said that Jean Claude was looking to expand some of his businesses. Quatre had joked that he was a little nervous about negotiating face to face with a vampire that could easily control his mind but that he was also excited by the prospect to meet one of the world's most famous vampire entrepeneurs.

Quatre wanted to meet at a rather low-key barbeque joint. His being one of the richest men in the world led him to most of the time having to eat very high end food. One of his vices from his days as a soldier though, was cheap American food. He loved barbeque. I found it kind of endearing but could not blame him. The food was good although I think his family would kind of be shocked that when he snuck away from them to eat pulled pork.

We arived close to the same time at the resturant. He was dressed very casually. I had finally convinced him not to long ago that if he did not want to get recognized all of the time, that he needed to start dressing to fit in whereever he went. He still wore tailored suits when he was working or very high end clothes when he had to be Quatre Raberba Winner. When he was out with his friends though, just being "Quat" as Maxwell called him, he had started wearing jeans and t shirts. It was odd seeing him not in his button down shirts and slacks but no one really gave him a second glance.

"Trowa!" He said in greeting. "It has been forever!"

I let him hug me and even hugged him back. I had shut myself off during the wars and the time with the Preventers. Now that I had been back with the Rodere, I was more accustomed to the physical contact. After I had once again sought comfort from my fellow rats, I started to crave it. Even though Quatre was not one of the rats, I also craved his touch.

"I'm glad that you could come," I replied looking at him. He had grown a lot after the Wars. His father had been a very large man and Quatre was not quite as tall as him. He had surpassed the other pilots, except for me, though in height. Maxwell and Chang had leveled off at around five and a half feet. Yuy was a bit taller than that. Quatre was only a few inches shy of me though. I would have never guessed when we all first met that the tiny blond would have grown so much.

"I would have came even if I did not have business negotiations," he replied with a bright smile.

I smiled back at him. "Let's get something to eat."

We were seated at a booth towards the back of the dinner. We ordered and I was very amused that Quatre ordered ribs. He was probably going to end up wearing most of the barbeque sauce. I got some barbeque chicken.

We filled our conversation while waiting for our meals to come with idle talk. He updated me on his family - he had three more neices and nephews on the way. It was hard to keep up with considering that he had twenty-nine older sisters. I gave him a brief overview of how things were going with the Preventers. There was a lull as we started in on our meals. Quatre did end up with quite a bit of sauce smeared on his face that we laughed about. It all felt very normal and ordinary. This is what I had missed about being around Quatre - we were never the billionaire businessman and soldier when we were together. We were just ourselves. It was comforting.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Quatre asked futily trying to wipe sauce from his face. I handed him another clean napkin while I took a moment to gather my courage.

"I've been keeping something from you, and well from everyone," I started trying to remember how I had rehearsed telling him in my mind. I couldn't remember exactly what I had planned when I looked into his concerned, pale blue eyes.

"What is it?" he asked reaching out and grasping my hand across the table. I took comfort in the touch. He seemed to be holding his breath in anticipation.

I took a deep breath and just told him very straightforwardly, "I was infected with lycanthropy as a little kid. I'm a wererat."

"Oh, is that it?" He replied letting out the breath he was holding. "I thought you were going to tell me that you decided you were completely straight or something."

I laughed at that. We had sort of had a long distance relationship going on since the first war. It was never sexual - mostly because I feared how I would control my beast during sex and he because he was very reserved. I was reeling though at his almost complete dismissal of my being a shifter.

"Wha?" was really all I could say in reply to him.

"I've noticed over the last few months that we had been drifting apart," he explained to me in my befuddled state. "I thought you were no longer interested in, whatever this relationship is that we had built. I can't say that I've made it easy for you and I was just really worried that you were calling me here to break up with me."

"No, it's not that at all," I argued. "I was starting to feel bad that I had never told you about being a wererat. I thought you'd not want to be around me if you knew."

"So what if my boyfriend is a little bit off of human. It's not like I have any claims of being normal," he said with a smile.

"So I'm your boyfriend now?" I said because my brain latched on to that word instead of the rest of what he had said. We had never truly defined our relationship like that before. We had always been closer than friends. I had loved him for years in a truly non-platonic way but had never acted on it.

"I can't really call you my lover," he said with a smirk that would rival Maxwell's. "Unless you want to change that?"

"Did you just proposition me, Mr. Winner?"

"I believe that I did, Mr. Barton."

"And my being a lycanthrope doesn't bother you?"

"Honey, I already kind of knew," he said taking my hand again in both of his.

I forrowed my brow at that. I thought that I had hidden myself very well from him. "How?"

"I always knew that you felt different to me," he explained. Quatre placed one of his hands over his heart like he always did when talking about his empathy powers. "You felt like, I can't really explain it well in words. You felt like 'more' - more alive, more heat, more than human. I just didn't know what that meant until last night."

"You were feeling my beast then," I said with the realization dawning on me. "What happened last night to make you realize what it was?"

"I met Duo's brother and felt his beast knowing that he was also a shifter."

It made sense then. I had been the first lycanthrope that he had been around so he didn't know to classify what he was feeling from me as anything other than human. After experiencing the same thing with a wereleopard, then the puzzle peices must have fallen into place.

"Did you meet Nathaniel at the club then?" I asked realizing what night it had been then. I knew that our friends were making their stage debut even though I had not been able to attend due to working at the Circus.

"Oh my, yes," he said with a blush spreading across his cheeks. "I had no idea Wu Fei had it in him."

"I know, right?"

"I'm kind of curious as to what goes on in the Maxwell-Chang bedroom after that littler performance," Quatre said with a smirk while trying to recover from his blush. "I think I'm going to give them some whips and chains for birthday gifts."

"That's rather nefarious even for you," I said laughing.

"Well, after Duo spotted me after the show talking to Jean Claude, he practically molested me while only wearing a thong."

"I would have paid to see that!"

"It was so embarrassing! I think he was trying to make me uncomfortable," Quatre explained with another blush. "You should have seen them on stage!"

"I actually did," I said with a laugh. "They record all of the shows for review later. It helps the dancers review their own routines. Don't tell them that I saw it though, Wu Fei would kill me if he knew I snuck a peak at it this morning."

"Do you think we could get a copy of that?"

"I can see what I can do."


	23. Chapter 23

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

Monday morning found us back in the Preventer's office in St. Louis. Une had spoken to us about starting to train some of the new recruits locally in another few days once their clearances went through. There were a handful of wererats that had enlisted and even a few wolves. Most of them had been ex-millitary before being infected.

In the meantime though, it did not leave Duo and I very much to do in the office. Our commanding officer did not want to send us out in the field and thereby delay the training of the new preternatural recruits. I finished up some loose ends of paperwork late last week which left me with nothing much to do. Duo was going through some old charts making sure that the local office was doing every thing correctly. He never much liked writing the reports but his phenominal memory made him very good at reviewing other reports and findind details others had missed.

Out of boredom and curiosity I pulled up the Graison files again. I was not really looking for anything in particular. Nathaniel had been very open with us about his past on the streets and his arrest record. I was more curious about the stepfather. I started reviewing the old hospital records again from whe Duo was taken in with the head injury. I laughed when I read their guardian's name. I had not caught it the first time but his name was James Brandon. Nathaniel was stripping using the bastard's name. This amused me to no end, mostly because I could see Duo doing the same thing.

I decided to pull up any information I could find on the man. It didn't take long to find him on the computer. I saved the files to send to Duo later and began reading. Duo came back in the office from archives just as I was finishing the read through.

"What are you doing, Fei?" He asked dumping an armload of files on his own desk before walking over to the coffee pot to pour himself some fresh coffee.

"Research," I mumbled as I was reading the last line in the report. I looked up at him as he walked over to lean on my desk. He perched on the edge of my desk before taking a swig of the hot coffee.

"'Bout what?"

"I found your stepfather," I replied watching his eyes go wide. "He was actually pretty easy to locate due to his line of work."

"Oh?" Duo said in response before leaning back enough to look at my computer screen. I turned the monitor slightly to give him a better look. "He's a cop?"

"Yes," I said as I pulled up the start of his police record. "He was a cop back when he had the two of you as well. It seems that his record isn't that great and he's still just a beat cop. He has a tendency of getting himself in trouble and passed over for promotions. It seems that he has a problem with his temper."

"I'm shocked. Really," my partner said in sarcasm. "Wait, his name is James Brandon? So little bro is stripping by his name. That is awesome!"

"I'm amused by that, too."

"Any idea how he got me from here to L2?"

"Not a clue," I said turning back to the computer. Duo got up and went to his desk.

"I'm going to start looking at his police logs to see if anything has a connection to L2," he said turning on his computer. "Hey, thanks for sending me the files already."

We worked the rest of the day and part of the next on reviewing that man's files. He did not have a great arrest record. It seemed that he was more like a thug wearing a badge than anything else. He had actually had cases dropped, repeatedly, for assaulting the suspects. We had even found where he was put on adminstrated leave for a while due to his drinking. He had completed the psychological stuff and was allowed to return to work though.

"Well, Fei, the only thing I was able to dig up was that he botched an arrest on someone who was suspected of human trafficking about sixteen years ago which would have been several months before I wound up on L2. It seems he beat the shit out of the guy to get a confession and they couldn't use it in court."

"Send me the name of the trafficker," I said sipping my tea. It wasn't much of a lead but it was something. I started researching the name and did find that the man was later arrested for trafficking women and children to the colonies and selling them as sex slaves.

"It doesn't tie Officer Brandon to trafficking me through that guy," Duo stated reviewing the file. "But I find it a little too coincidental that his known route went through an L2 spaceport that happens to be near the part of the colony I grew up in."

"Too bad we can't question the trafficker, he was killed in prison a few years ago."

"Yeah, but we can ask Nate if he remembers this guy," he suggested.

"We'd have to officially question your brother then," I replied sitting back in my chair. "If it's human trafficking crossing into the colonies, then it really is Preventers business."

"You thinking we could actually charge that bastard that hurt us with human trafficking?" My partner asked. "I was just going to be happy with charging him with child abuse on the local level. If this sticks, he'd go to an international prison and probably suffer the same fate as the other trafficker."

"Yeah, people who hurt kids tend to not do so well locked up," I replied with a smirk. "Now I know you're all disappointed at not being able to go all 'Shinigami' on him but this way, Nate gets some justice, too."

"We need to see if Nate can give a statement first," Duo said flipping a notebook open to take notes. We were starting to get a plan of action. "Is there anyone else we could try to track down? Like neighbors, any other family - either ours or that bastard's?"

"You know, I never even thought to look to see if you two had any other family members. After I read that your parents were dead, I never really looked any further. I just assumed that since the step-father was the guardian that you didn't have anyone else."

"I just figured that if there were anyone else, Nate would have said something, you know?"

"He was only just barely five years old, he might not remember anyone."

"Good point," Duo said scrolling through his records again. "Oh hey, I found someone!"

"Another relative?" I asked getting up to go look. I leaned over his shoulder to peer at his screen.

"It seems that our mom had a baby sister," Duo said. "The guardianship papers say that she was only 18 when our mother died and was away at nursing school. She's still alive, too!"

"She might not know anything about the trafficking but you now have an aunt!"

"Huh, an aunt? Never thought I'd have one of those," he said leaning back in his chair. With me still standing behind him, he was practically leaned against me. I put my hands on his shoulders and he smiled up at me. "I wonder if she would like a visit from her two favorite nephews?"

"You're probably her only two nephews unless she's married and has some on her husband's side," I corrected. "But I don't want it to screw up the investigation. Let's call her in here first to question her. It looks like she's living just over the border in Missouri and probably isn't in contact with your step-father. If we start with her, then she might not be able to tip him off that we are investigating him."

"That's a good plan, Wu Fei. I like how you always think business first," Duo said with a wink. "I want this guy to fry for what he did to Nate and I."

"I already shot an email to Une about us investigating this, I'll go ahead and contact your Aunt... Stacy to ask her here for some questioning," I said heading back to my desk. "We can question her first and then see if we can track down any old neighbors or associates that James Brandon had back then."

"Sounds good. I think I'll give Nate a call to tell him what we're up to. He'll still need to make a statement."


	24. Chapter 24

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

We decided to actually go interview Duo's Aunt Stacy at her home in Missouri. Lady Une wanted us to keep as quiet about the investigation as possible. She stated that she wasn't sure if any of the local Preventers knew his stepfather since he worked in the local police force but she did not want anything to slip up. She really did not want the man being tipped off about the investigation and hiding what little evidence could still exist. She was requesting that Nathaniel give a written statement for the time being as well.

We drove into a nice suburb in Illinois. The drive was not really long but seeing as St. Louis bordered the state, it really did not feel like we were leaving the city at all. We pulled up to the house and sat for a moment. I looked over at my partner who was fussing with his uniform.

"You look fine," I said to him placing my hand on his arm. "And besides, we don't even know if she is at home right now."

"She's home," Duo replied looking at the windows in the house. "Someone just peaked through the curtains."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" I shut off the car and got out. I waited until Duo walked around the car and we approached the house together. I knocked on the door and we both drew our badges out. I had to remind myself, and Duo on the drive over, that we were on official Preventers business.

"May I help you?" A middle aged woman said cracking the door open. She had blond hair and blue eyes and was not very tall. I kept finding myself analyzing her features to compare them to Duo and his brother.

"Yes, are you Ms. Stacy Larson?" I said to her and when she nodded, I showed her my badge. "I am Preventer Chang and this is Preventer Maxwell. We'd like to ask you a few questions, do you mind speaking with us for a few minutes?"

"I don't mind," she said looking confused. She eyed up our badges and then our uniforms. "I'm just a little confused as what this is all about."

"Don't worry, ma'am," Duo finally spoke. He grinned at her while putting his badge away. "This is not about anything you did. We just need some information on something you may have witnessed."

"Um, okay. Would you like to come in?" She said opening the door further. We followed her into the house and into a very comfortable looking living room. There were pictures lining almost every wall. She had wedding photos of herself and I assumed her husband. There were also countless pictures of several children scattered about. From my quick glance, I was guessing that she had three children who were all school aged.

We sat on the couch and I pulled out my note pad. Duo sat next to me but was not touching. We kept our professional distance from each other even though I really just wanted to hold his hand through this. He started bouncing his knee which I tapped with my pen and sent him a look that said to knock it off. It was one of his nervous habits that drove me insane.

"I'm sure you're a little confused as to why we are here," I started to explain. "We just have a few questions we need to ask for an ongoing investigation."

"Can I ask what you are investigating?" she interjected. Just then, a couple of the children poked their heads in the room. I could see a boy and a girl who were both pre-pubescent. I would guess that the boy was around 9 and the girl around 11. They were both brunettes and rather lanky in that unfinished, awkward kid way. "Jessica and Brian, go up to your rooms please. I need to talk to these young men for a few minutes."

"Hi, kids," Duo said smiling at them. "Your mom's not in trouble but we need to ask her a few questions."

The kids nodded and raced up the stairs. I suspected that they would do what most normal kids would and continue to try to eavesdrop on the conversation. When they were supposedly out of earshot, I started again to explain to Ms. Larson why we were there.

"We need to ask you a few questions about James Brandon."

"Now that's a name I haven't heard in years," she said relaxing back into her chair some. "What did he do this time?"

"We'll get to that but we need some background information first," I replied looking down at my questions that I had written. "Is it correct that he was married to your sister before she passed away?"

"Yeah, never knew what she saw in him," the woman replied. "Susie was never right after the car accident that she was in with our parents and her boyfriend. I'm not really sure how she met Jimmy after that but they wound up together."

"Can you elaborate on the car accident?" Duo asked leaning forward slightly.

"Yeah, it was about a year before she got married. She was with her boyfriend at the time, and our parents. Dad had been driving. I guess they had all been arguing and Dad had a stroke while driving and lost control of the car. Our parents were killed by the impact and Scott – her boyfriend was ejected from the car since he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. He died from his injuries about three days later. Susie was hurt pretty badly. Luckily, I was babysitting the boys that night so they weren't hurt. It was rough on all of us but Susie was just never the same after that."

"I can see how traumatic that would have been," Duo said while leaning towards her and patting her hand. She smiled slightly at him.

"It's been years but I still miss my parents," Stacy said grabbing a tissue from the box on the coffee table. "I still even miss Scotty, too. He may have been an idiot but he was my sister's first love and the father to her two boys. They were both so young when they were together, looking back, I think in another few years, Scotty would have made a fine adult. They were still in high school when Nicky was born."

She sniffled a bit and used the tissue to dab at her eyes.

"I'm sorry if this is hard for you, ma'am," I said to her trying to sound as soothing as possible. "You said that you weren't sure how your sister wound up with Mr. Brandon?"

"Yeah, after the accident, Susie got hooked on her pain pills. It was hard to watch but there was nothing I could say to her to get her to seek help. She started dating Jimmy and in a few months, they married. She took the boys with her and then I didn't hear much from her for a while. She eventually overdosed on pain pills which is what killed her. I was already away at nursing school by that time though so I didn't know how bad it had gotten."

"There was nothing you could have done," I assured her. "Addiction is a hard monster to fight."

"I have just always wished that Jimmy would have done something to help her," Stacy replied look at both of us. I could see a hard edge in her eyes. I had read in her records that she was a trauma nurse and was not surprised by her hardness. I had been around those type nurses enough, thanks to my profession, that I knew that you had to be made of some pretty strong stuff to keep up with that job. I noticed that she kept looking at my partner though as we asked her a few more questions about her sister's relationship with Jimmy Brandon.

"Do you ever remember Mr. Brandon being around this man?" I said pulling a photo out of my folder. It took her a second to pull her eyes away from Duo to look at the picture.

"I don't really remember who he is, but I had seen hi m a few times that I was at his house to visit the boys," she said turning her attention back to Duo. "Who is he?"

"That would be Anthony Karchev," Duo supplied. "He was convicted for human trafficking several years ago."

"That name is familiar," she said biting her lip.

"Mr. Brandon originally arrested him but due to his rather vigorous interrogation techniques, they had to throw the case out of court," I explained. "We are interested in learning if Mr. Brandon had any dealings with Mr. Karchev after that."

"I saw him at the house a few times when I was visiting the boys," she reiterated. "He was always rather creepy feeling and seemed to really keep an eye on the boys."

"You keep mentioning Susie's children, were you close with them?" Duo asked changing the topic abruptly.

"Yeah, I was. I felt bad when Susie died that I couldn't take them but there was no way for me to support myself and them while I was in school. I had inherited a bit of money from our parents but it was just enough to get by the first semester of college. I was working a couple part time jobs just so that I could have a roof over my head and food."

"You're not close any more, then?" Duo said even though he already knew the answer to that.

"No, I had gotten a call from Jimmy one day saying that Nicky had been pushed down the stairs by Natty and had suffered a traumatic brain injury. By the time I was able to get out of class and drive the two hours back home, I was told that he had already died."

"I'm sorry for your loss," I told her as she wiped at her eyes again. I was really sad that we were upsetting her so much. This woman had experienced a great deal of death in her life and most of it by the time she was just barely out of high school.

"What happened to Natty?" Duo asked her when she had calmed down some.

"Jimmy had said that after the boys fought and he pushed his brother down the stairs that he had run away. The boys were escape artists. They were always running away, even from Susie. What usually happened was either they were found by a neighbor who just returned them home or someone called the police. The police, since they knew Jimmy never did anything about their constant running away. That last time though, Natty had actually gotten much farther away when he ran. He was found along a busy street by a woman who worked in a school. Instead of calling the police, she called social services directly. By the time they tracked down Jimmy, Natty had already passed and Jimmy was furious with Natty. They put him in foster care pending an investigation. I was supposed to get visitation but it never panned out. I lost touch with my nephew by the time he was 7 years old."

"That's very sad," I said to her. "We've seen his record though and he was moved around a lot to different foster homes. It seemed that due to the assault on his brother, he was hard to place."

"I never believed that he hurt his brother," Stacy said with firmness in her voice. "He adored his big brother and they were inseparable. They never fought like normal siblings do. I don't know what happened and I always suspected that Jimmy had done it but had nothing to prove it. His temper was always really short with the boys but I had never seen him raise a hand to them."

"Do you think that Mr. Karchev could have been involved?" Duo asked her.

"I don't know," was her reply. She shook her head at some thought she seemed to be lost in before speaking again. "I'm sorry, but Mr. Maxwell, I have to ask this."

"Ask what, ma'am?"

"You're not Natty are you? I know that it's silly but you just look so much like my sister that it's uncanny. She had those same eyes that weren't blue like the rest of the family's. They're more in the purple range. The only ones that I've ever seen with that eye color besides her were the boys."

"No, I'm not Nathaniel," he said with a sad smile.

"Wow, that's just weird then. Hold on, I'll show you a picture," she got up from her chair and walked to another room. I looked at Duo and he looked at me like he was about to panic.

I started whispering in Japanese to him to keep our conversation private. "Do you want to tell her?"

He replied the same way. "No, yes, I don't know. I want to hug her – she has lost every bit as much as I have and really deserves to know but I'm scared. "

"Well, it sounds like there is no love lost between her and your step-dad so I doubt that she would tell him that we are investigating him for human trafficking."

She returned to the room clutching a photograph in a frame. She was holding it to her chest and I could see fresh tears in her eyes. I decided then that she really needed to know what was going on.

"Getting back to Mr. Brandon," I said as she sat down and before she could show us the picture. "What we are investigating with him is actually his involvement in human trafficking."

"What do you mean? You think he was kidnapping people? Trafficking, isn't that across borders and whatnot?" She said looking at me quizzically.

"We think he was involved in sending children, with the help of Mr. Karchev, not just across state lines, but out to the colonies. Mr. Karchev was known to traffic children as sex slaves to several colonies including the L2 cluster."

"Children?" she said with a gasp. "I know Jimmy is a scumbag, even though he's a cop, but I didn't think he'd do something like that. How many kids do you think he kidnapped?"

"We know of at least one," Duo replied. "Can I see your picture though?"

"Sure," she replied turning it around to show us. It was a rather standard professional shot with Susie in the center holding a chubby baby on her lap. The child looked to be a little about a year and a half old with a few wisps' of hair on his head. There was a second child, a toddler, leaning over her shoulder. He had wavy brown hair hanging to almost his shoulders. Susie, was smiling at the camera and I could see that she did indeed have Duo's heartshaped face, bright grin, and those same impossibly purple eyes. All three of them in the picture did. Duo reached out a tentative hand to the picture and traced his mother's cheek.

"This was my favorite picture," Stacy said with a sad smile. "They all looked so happy that day. We had done pictures for my mom and dad for their anniversary. "

"You're sister was very beautiful," Duo said with a bit of a tremble in his voice.

"Thank you. I still miss her and the boys and think of them every day. You said that you're investigating Jimmy for kidnapping at least one child, can I ask who?"

Duo looked at me and nodded at him to go on. He turned back to the blond woman with the kind blue eyes and smiled sadly. "Nicholas Graison."

"But he died!"

"No, he didn't," Duo insisted. "He did suffer a head injury, at the hands of Jimmy not his brother, but he wound up on a transport to the L2 cluster where he escaped to."

"You mean he's still alive?" the woman said almost dropping the photograph in her hands. Duo deftly grabbed it before it fell.

"You asked me if I was Nathaniel," Duo said softly. "I'm not but he still lives in St. Louis. I'm Nicky but due to the head injury, I didn't remember that until recently."

"Nicky?" the woman sobbed before reaching out a shaking hand to touch Duo on the cheek. He smiled at her through tears in his eyes and nodded. Stacy wasted no time after that and hugged my partner. I was really starting to believe that hugging was a genetic trait in this family.

Duo held the sobbing woman and said soothing things to her. I could see two little heads peeking around the corner of the living room. I had been right to suspect that the kids had been listening in.

"How? I don't understand." Stacy said finally after pulling back from the hug. She wiped tears from her eyes as Duo was doing the same. "How can you be alive?"

"I don't really remember much other than you were right to suspect that Jimmy had a temper with us. I remember him beating me pretty soundly that night before I blacked out. I had told Natty to run and hide which he did thankfully. The next thing that I really remember was running from a transport on L2. I wound up on the streets for quite a while and eventually a church took me in."

He skimmed over the rest of his childhood by leaving it at the church. He only elaborated on saying that he had gotten involved in the Preventers several years ago and left out the wars entirely. It was very much an abridged version of Maxwell's life but it would suffice for now.

"Have you found your brother yet?" She asked him while still holding his hand.

"Yeah, that's how this whole thing started strangely enough," he explained with a laugh. "I still had no memory of my childhood and bumped into him one day several weeks ago."

"They look like twins," I supplied. "It was really rather odd. Nathaniel remembered his brother but had thought he was dead. Maxwell, that's the name he grew up with, has only recently started remembering his life here on earth. They've been working together to figure out how he wound up on L2."

"If Jimmy was involved, I want you to make him pay for it," his aunt said with the hard edge returning to her voice. "You both have suffered too much due to that man. I never liked him anyways."

"If we can link him to trafficking Duo through Karchev, then he'll be tried in international court since not only did he traffic him across borders but into space – which is what makes it Preventers business."

"Any information you can provide us with would be helpful, ma'am," Duo explained.

"Quit calling me 'ma'am', it's Aunt Stacy," she said gripping his hands tighter. "When can I see Natty?"

"I'll call him and set something up. I know he's very excited to meet you," Duo said and looking over to the doorway with a smirk. "And the rest of your family."

We spent the next few hours talking to 'Aunt Stacy' and her kids until her husband got home from work and we talked to him as well. It was a very happy reunion for them. I was so happy for Duo for finding his family. Stacy even offered to get copies of the photograph made for Duo and his brother.


	25. Chapter 25

**Title: Finding What Was Lost**

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Anita POV)

When we got the news from Duo about the boys having family still in the area, Nathaniel was nervously excited. He was excited because it was family and he had been so happy with finding his brother. He was also nervous because this family of theirs did not know anything about him, his lycanthropy, his past, and possibly did not even know of the abuse he suffered from his step-father. I don't blame him for being nervous.

I was also nervous for Nathaniel to work with his brother on prosecuting their stepfather. I was afraid of what memories it would drag up for my wereleopard. He had spent so many years suppressing those memories because of how hurtful they had been. Micah and I had kept supporting Nathaniel through it though.

Duo had told us that their aunt had really wanted to meet Nathaniel. We put it off for a little while just to let Nathaniel adjust to the idea that they still had family that loved them. He barely remembered the aunt. He said that he had hoped early on after his mother died, that his aunt would come and rescue them from their stepfather. He said he always felt kind of abandonded by her when she didn't come. I don't blame him there.

He was dwelling on the disappointments of childhood and starting to get depressed. That was why I jumped at the chance of a distraction when Wu Fei suggested we get out of the city for an afternoon and do something different. We wound up going out to a shooting range. I liked getting Nathaniel and some of the boys out there from time to time to work on their ability with firearms. Nathaniel wasn't a killer but I wanted him to at least be able to defend himself if needed. Also, with the number of guns that I had, I wanted him able to handle them with some knowledge. Wu Fei even promised that he and Duo would bring some of their favorite 'toys'. That made me excited.

The two Preventers followed us out to the range. They said that they were bringing some other friends so it would end up being a small gun party. I knew that they were bringing Nanashi from the wererats at the circus but I was not sure who else they were had with them. I had Nathaniel, Jason, and Edward in my car. I knew that I had to invite Edward to this little party because he would probably kill me if I got to play with some of the gundam pilots' toys without him.

As soon as we parked, Jason bounded out of the car and practically pounced on the boys as they exited their car. "Hello, guys!"

"Hi!" Duo said walking around to the trunk. "I didn't think that you'd be so excited to shoot guns with us."

"Nah, I'm just happy to be hanging out with everyone today."

I ignored their continued banter while observing the other three that had been riding in Wu Fei's car. The Asian Preventer was surveying the surroundings at the outdoor gun range. I could see Nanashi quietly looking around as well as he walked up to the last passenger from their car. I had not yet been introduced to him. It was another young man that looked to be the same age as the others. He had golden blond hair and blue eyes to go with a very bright smile. I watched as the quiet wererat gently took his hand. The blond's smile seemed to get even brighter. I caught myself almost smiling back at them even though I really didn't know them. They just looked really sweet together.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Edward drawled stepping up behind me.

"What?"

"Don't you know who that is?"

I frowned at him. I did not have a clue who he was other than I was assuming it was Nanashi's boyfriend. "No. Should I?"

"Really, Anita, you need to turn on a television sometime," Edward laughed shaking his head at me. "You really don't know him?"

"Who is he?"

"Only the richest man in the Earthsphere, he's the head of Winner Corp," Edward replied as if I would know that. I was shocked that the boys seemed to know someone that affluent if that were really who he thought it was.

"How would they know him, if that kid is who you think it is," I asked. I looked back to the boys and saw Duo, Jason and the blond talking excitedly amongst themselves. Nathaniel, Nanashi, and Wu Fei were standing back watching the other young men.

"How do you think two Gundam pilots would know Quatre Winner?"

"Three gundam pilots," I corrected. "I forgot to tell you that the tall, quiet one over there was one, too."

"Three? Holy shit," Edward said with a low whistle. "You've been holding out on me."

"The tall one is a wererat that works at the Circus as well as being a Preventer," I explained.

"Then that pretty much confirms the rumors that the Winner boy didn't just run away as a teenager. He ran off to war," Edward speculated. "I'm betting he was one of the pilots. That is probably the only explaination for how all of them know each other."

"Makes you wonder if the fifth one is hiding out around here as well."

"Chang is the fifth one. Well, from what I can gather, he was pilot 05. The doppleganger of your leopard was 02 but I'm not sure which designations go with the other two over there."

I surveyed the gathering of young men near the cars. It was hard to believe that any of them were terrorists. "I still can't picture any of them, except maybe Chang, killing anyone. They just all seem so young and innocent. I've met a lot of very bad men in my life, these ones just seem so young and, well, normal."

"I think that was their secret weapon during the wars. No one ever suspected them," Edward said narrowing his eyes at them. "Imagine the blond one smiling at you while he pulled the trigger."

"I still can't wrap my head around Duo doing that. He just looks so much like Nathaniel and that is so against everything that is him that I still can't see Duo killing someone."

"Well, I think today may change your mind," Edward said with a smirk before starting off towards the other vehicle. "I think I just saw Duo pull out a grenade launcher out of his trunk."

A little while later, it was still kind of awkward watching as the baby faced vetrans talked guns and demonstrated their favorite firearms. Duo did in fact have a grenade launcher in his trunk but Wu Fei would not let him fire it. I was glad at that. I didn't want to know what kind of damage that would do to the range.

"Cat, let me see your pistol," Duo said while standing next to his brother. "I think Nate would like it better than mine."

The blond that all of them had been calling "Cat" all day walked over to them and handed him his small pistol. I recognized it as one that was easy to conceal under clothing due to its size. I generally went for ones with a higher caliber to it due to what I was usually shooting at but it was a nice gun.

"I typically carry this one on me at all times," the cheerful blond explained. "I carried a larger one for a while but this one is easier to conceal."

"Yeah, and it's not like you don't usually have a ton of body guards following you around most of the time who are armed," Duo joked sighting in the pistol.

"Yeah but most of them are for show," Cat replied. "They're not bad bodyguards, don't get me wrong. It's just they aren't, well, us."

"Yeah, I get what you're saying," the braided Preventer replied looking back at his friend. "When you're a better shot than most of them and you know you wouldn't hesitate to do what you need to do, it's kind of hard to trust the rest of the hired muscle."

"They're good guys," Cat replied with a shrug. "Most of them saw some action in the Wars but really, they're mostly there for show and to deter kidnappings."

"I'd love to see someone try to kidnap you!"

"I, for one, wouldn't," Chang interjected. "Imagine the paperwork that he'd have to do and all the shit we'd have to deal with if the media got a hold of it?"

"Media nightmare, is what it would be," Nanashi answered.

"Not to interrupt," Edward said stepping closer to the boys. "You are all who I think you are, right?"

"And who would that be?" Duo asked with mock sweetness in his voice and a bat of his eye lashes.

"Can it braid-boy, you know what I mean. I already talked to you and your partner about it. I just want to know about the other two."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Forrester," the blond young man said in a very cold, no-nonsense voice. It was like a switch was flipped - gone was the brightly smiling young man and instead of someone as cold and dark as Edward himself. "We can't give you that information. We also can't let you share your speculations with anyone."

"Yeah, is that a threat, Mr. Winner?"

"No, I don't threaten people. I state facts," the young man said without correcting the name that Edward used.

"What if I don't believe your 'facts'?" The federal marshall responded. The tension in the situation was growing exponentially. I was afraid to move for fear of triggering something that we couldn't contain. "You and what army are going to stop me?"

"This army," Nanashi replied softly. He stood an arm's length away from Edward with his pistol pointed right at the older man's head. He looked emotionless and completely calm. I looked to the other Gundam pilots. They all had their guns drawn and pointed at my friend. Even the blond who continued to stare down Edward.

"You know, Marshall Forrester," Chang spoke from beside the wererat. "You really must have a death wish to keep trying to push our buttons. One of us would be bad enough to anger but to pull this shit with the four of us here and we're all carrying firearms, is a very bad idea."

"Seriously, dude, what the hell are you thinking?" Duo interjected. "What are you trying to accomplish here besides pissing off Shinigami?"

I spoke up then trying to diffuse the situation, "Edward is facinated in finding someone better than him. He takes it as a challenge. One of these days, he's going to draw down on me and we'll really find out who is better. He just needs to back off and admit that while going against one of you might be interesting, going after four or five would be a very bad idea."

"It's not just a bad idea but the most intense case of suicide that I've ever seen!" Jason interjected. Somehow, that stupid comment actually did lighten the situation. First Duo and then the others lowered their guns. Duo actually started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked him still not understanding the humor in this situation.

"We usually joke with 01 about 'suicide by gundam'," Wu Fei explained while his partner continued to laugh.

"It sucks by the way, I wouldn't recommend it," Nanashi deadpanned. "I was the one who fished his damn carcass out of the rubble."

"Yo, Tro, I've been wondering about this since you told us of your furry status," Duo said finally pulling himself together. "Our buddy 'Ro always seemed to heal faster and generally not be very human-like. Is he something, too? Would you know that?"

"He's human, as far as I know," the taller boy answered. "Just kind of freakish, if you want my opinion."

"Wonder if we could talk him into stopping by for a visit? It could be a full-on reunion," Duo suggested.

And it was just like that, the atmosphere was back to the banter between the guys. Duo and Nanashi started showing Jason how to throw knives. I didn't even see where they both pulled knives from. I was pretty sure that I hadn't seen either of them carrying knives today.

"So Nathaniel tells me that you've carried a flame thrower to fight zombies before," Chang said to Edward as if he hadn't just pulled a gun on him moments before.

"I've been known to use them from time to time," Edward responded. "It's a little dangerous because a flaming zombie can light the surround area on fire if you're not careful."

"So can flaming mobile suits," Wu Fei replied with a smirk.


	26. Chapter 26

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Anita's POV)

Nathaniel and I walked into the Preventer's office. I had never been there before but from the looks of it, it was rather standard for a police station at first glance. The man at the front desk was looking at Nathaniel curiously when he took our names. We had an appointment with an interviewer today about Nathaniel's stepfather. He was going to be asked to give a statement to continue the investigation of abuse and human trafficking.

"Preventer Silver will see you in a few minutes," the man a the desk said. He kept staring at us though which was making me rather grumpy. I was pretty sure it was only because of how closely Nathaniel resembled his brother who worked at the office as well. Beside me, Nathaniel just smiled brightly at the man at the desk.

I watched as a few uniformed Preventers walked by behind the desk. Several had walked past repeatedly. I noted that they were quite a wide variety of ages and nationalities. I had been used to being in police stations but usually I was working in them not on the other side.

"I thought you were working today, Preventer Night?" a middle aged preventer said walking over to Nathaniel and I.

"You obviously have us mistaken for someone else," I replied coldly.

"Nah, I don't think I do. I think the little brat is trying to make more work for us," the man said leaning over closer to Nathaniel. He continued speaking to me though. "He's been complaining to the boss lady about us down here and stirring up trouble. He seems to think he's better than the rest of us even though I have kids older than him. I don't know what he and Preventer Day did to get the say in the organization that they have, but it's really starting to piss us off."

Ah, so it was a pissing contest in the office due to the boys' young age. It seemed that some of the older Preventers were jealous of their higher status in the organization. I could see why having the same impression when I first met the boys. "I'm sorry that you think this is just some prank or something but you are very much mistaken. We're just here to give a statement."

"Collins, get your ass back to the records room," a woman around my age said walking through the room. "Leave Mr. Graison and Ms. Blake alone. They are here for an active investigation that has nothing to do with you."

"Yes, Preventer Water," the man said almost looking like he was tucking his tail and running away.

"I'm sorry about that, Nathaniel," the woman said. She had light colored hair but her facial features denoted a more mixed family tree. I think she was Asian of some sort. "Preventer Silver will be off the phone shortly and will be able to see you. I'll just hang out here until then."

"Thanks, Dr. Po," he replied to the woman revealing that it was the doctor that he had met with Chang and his brother. "I didn't realize how disliked my brother is around here."

"Well, it's more complicated than that," the doctor replied sitting down next to us in the waiting area. "The field agents who work with them or are trained by them respect them greatly. They see what the boys can do and don't question their age or their looks. It's some of the others who work in the office who just don't understand and are conciderably jealous of their rank."

"I'm used to that feeling of always having to prove yourself to others on the job," I replied to the woman.

"I've thankfully haven't had too much problems with it here," Dr. Po replied to me. "My jobs during the war were much less covert. I am also a doctor and not usually a field agent, despite my title here which usually denotes field agent status."

"The titles are only used for field agents?" Nathaniel asked her.

"Yeah, but I had mine for years because I was one of Commander Une's first agents," she explained. "We use them to somewhat protect the identies of the agents since many of them work undercover."

"That makes sense," the wereleopard replied. "I was just wondering how you got the names since that other guy thought that I was 'Preventer Night' which I assume was my brother."

"The night designation is due to his stealth abilities. Yeah, after knowing Duo and seeing him in daily life, it's hard to see him as being stealthy but he's the best. You'll never know he's been somewhere until it explodes."

"Can I ask what Chang's designation?" I asked out of curiosity.

"He is Preventer Day," the doctor replied with a laugh. "I actually named him back in the day. He's about as subtle as a brick. Don't get me wrong, he can do stealth operations better than most but he's more of a brute force kind of guy. Also, at times, he such a ray of sunshine."

"He's nice though and fun to be around," Nathaniel argued with a frown on his face.

"Yeah, around his friends, in the office, he's a right stick in the mud," she replied. "Hell, right after the Wars, he was a grouch to everyone. It wasn't until Duo told him that he was going to pull the stick out of his ass and beat him with it that Wu Fei started to relax some."

"Duo said that?" his brother asked with a laugh.

"Right in front of the entire office staff in the Sanq office," she explained. "When Wu Fei didn't beat the living daylights out of Duo, I started to suspect there were something more to those two. I don't know how they wound up together, or when exactly it happened, but I'm happy for them. They are good for each other. Wu Fei is like a little brother to me, especially after he lost his entire family during the war when his colony self-destructed. He seemed so lost for a long time but when he found Duo, well, he's much happier than I've ever seen him."

"So Chang had a pretty rotten childhood as well?" I asked thinking back to what Duo had told us of his.

"Yeah, but it's his story to tell, not mine," she replied looking over her shoulder as a grey haired older man walked up behind her. "Ah, here's Preventer Silver. He's going to conduct your interview Nathaniel. He's our victims expert and does all of our interviews. He's nice and easy to talk to. Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

I squeezed Nathaniel's hand before he walked off with the silver-haired Preventer. The man had introduced himself as a psychologist. Dr. Po remained sitting next to me in the waiting room. We talked easily about our jobs. It was actually rather nice to talk to another woman involved in law enforcement for once.

A/N: the preventer names for Duo & Wu Fei are recycled from another fic of mine. I like them, and think they fit very well so I'm using them again.


	27. Chapter 27

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(WuFei POV)

"Oh, Anita, there you are," I said walking back into the office. "You two must have gotten here early and I got stuck in traffic. I wanted to meet you at the door so you wouldn't have to wait out here."

"It's no problem, really," she replied look up at me while she was sitting with Sally. "Dr. Po was keeping me company."

"I do need to get back to work though. It was a pleasure to meet you," Sally said while getting up from those uncomfortable waiting room chairs. The only ones worse were the ones down in the infirmary.

"If you'll follow me, we can hide out in my office for a while. The chairs are definitely more comfortable there."

"That would be great considering that I think my ass is falling asleep from sitting in this chair," she complained. "Please tell me you have some coffee back there, too? It's rather early in the day for me."

"You're job keeps you up most nights, doesn't it?"

"My job and my social life both," she admitted with a wry grin.

"Well, when your significant other is daylight challenged, I do see it as a compromise to be awake mostly when they are."

We walked through the office with some people stopping to stare at us. I knew that I was not really liked in this office. Most of the staff here did not know Duo and I very well. We had never had many missions here. Most recently we had done a drug ring that was spanning several states and had some ties to L3. To the field agents here, we were the rumored about infamous field agents. They knew our repuatations and either believed them or had heard from other agents that what they heard were mostly true. The other staff, those who hadn't made the cut to be field agents, did not like us. They heard the stories and doubted them or thought that they were exaggerated. They took us at face value and thought that we were just kids who sucked up to the Commander.

I stopped by the kitchenette area of the office. "I know it's not the frech press that you have at home, but this is what they call coffee around here."

She turned up her nose at the look of the old, battered and very cheap coffee pot. "I think I'll pass. What is it with police stations having terrible coffee?"

"I've never been able to figure that out," I replied. "Then again, I don't much care for the stuff. Please don't hold that against me."

"I don't know. I tend to not trust people who don't like coffee," she joked.

"Can I make you some tea instead? I bring that in myself so I can guarantee its quailty."

"I'm not much for tea but at this point, I'll take anything. I ended up doing 4 raisings in four different cemetaries last night."

"Black tea it is then and I'll put extra honey in it for the added sugar rush," I replied digging around in the cabinet for a mug. I filled it with the hot water from the warmer. "I hide my tea in my desk. I am not willing to share it with most people."

"You sound like me and my coffee," she replied following me further back towards my office. We walked in and I flicked the lights on. The office itself was very plain. I never really decorated any office that I ever occupied. We moved around too much to have a real office. At least the actual office furniture in here were comfortable. My desk was on the right, facing the door while Duo's was on the left facing the same way. Neither of us liked having our backs to the door. I had noted that a lot of the local staff had their desks arranged so they could look out their windows instead of being aware of who was at their door. Some of the staff was starting to get pissed at Duo for "sneaking up on them" when he walked into their offices. He had startled a few of them so badly that they spilled their terrible coffee on their desks.

"Have a seat," I said pointing to Duo's desk. I sat at mine and pulled out the loose leaf tea from my drawer and the tea ball. I prepared her tea fairly strongly and then added a generous amount of my secret stash of honey. "Here you go."

She sniffed it before taking a sip from the steaming mug. "Not bad. I've never had tea like this."

"Then you've been missing out. Most bagged tea is about the equivalent of instant coffee," I explained.

"I'm not going to give up my coffee for this but I can definitely appreciate it," she replied taking another sip. She then reached out and picked up the one picture that Duo had on his desk. I smiled fondly at the memory the picture evoked.

"You two were so young in this picture," she said.

"We were about 16 and it was at the end of the first war," I explained. I knew that in the picture that I was standing there with my arms crossed wearing my white pants and blue tank top. I really did not want my picture taken but was putting up with it because Quatre had whined at me for long enough. Duo on the other hand was really enjoying the picture. He was practically draped over me grinning like a loon.

"Were you together even back then?" she asked looking at how Duo was clinging to me.

"Um, I don't really know how to answer that," I replied truthfully. "We didn't consider ourselves to be in a relationship back then but, yes, we did on occassion have sex."

"I'm slowly working through my years of catechism to accept that kids so young can be sexually active," Anita stated. "Too many years of my grandmother insisting that someone was lower than dirt if they weren't virgins when they were married."

"Oh, I was a virgin when I was married," I replied with a smirk. I remembered Duo telling me about what he had learned about catholocism while living at Maxwell's Church as a child.

"You, what?" She looked genuinely shocked.

"It was an arranged marriage when we were about 13. She was the heir to the Long clan and I was an acceptable match, according to her family. Neither of us were thrilled about it but we did our duty. We fought like the bratty children we were but were trying to uphold what was expected of us."

"An arranged marriage, I didn't know people did that any more," she said.

"It was a rare custom even on L5 but with her being the sole heir to the family, they wanted to ensure that she married the right person. I'm still not sure why they picked me. I wanted nothing to do with what they were offering."

"They were offering their daughter and you weren't interested?"

"Well, actually at the time, I didn't realize that I was more interested in males," I explained to her feeling slightly nervous that I was openning up to her. "What they were actually offering was a gundam. They wanted me to fight their battle for them because they did not think she was suited for it. I was sure that I wasn't suited for it because despite of my martial arts skills at that age, I was very much a pacifist. I would have rather read a book than fight."

"They didn't want her to pilot the suit becuase she was female and she hated it."

"That's a sentiment I can understand," she replied reclining in the office swivel chair slightly.

"When the colony was attacked, I still didn't want to use the suit to defend our home. She jumped into a suit that she physically wasn't able to handle. I was forced to use the unfinished Gundam to help her first mobile suit battle ended up being the last," I explained almost surpised at the well of emotion that I was feeling. "I told you before that you didn't know why we did what we did in the wars. She was my reason for fighting. I couldn't let anyone else fight instead of me when I had the power to do it. She died because I... I..."

"I understand," she said leaning over to place her hand on mine. "You felt you had to be the bad guy to protect others from having to do so."

"Yeah, something like that," I said collecting myself. "I was an angry kid back then only seeking revenge in the name of justice. Somehow Duo saw through that even back then."

"I completely get that whole being angry at the world because you lost someone you cared about. I was pretty much the same way after my mother died."

"The sad part is that at the time, I didn't even think that I cared about her. I was even more angry and grief stricken when my colony was destroyed especially after she had died trying to save it not all that long before that."

"You really have lost everyone, haven't you?" she said. I was surprised to the level of empathy she was showing. I nodded to her having lost the ability to trust my voice even after all this time. I was thankful that instead of trying to hug me like Sally would have, she just did the typical guy thing and squeezed my shoulder before sitting back down in her chair.

"So, you and Duo were together back in the war?" She asked trying to move the conversation to a less emotional subject.

"Yeah, we were a bunch of kids thrown into a stressful situation where we could really only trust each other, it was bound to happen at some point. Duo did approach me first. He later admitted that he thought I was going to either kill him or screw his brains out. Lucky for him, it was the latter."

"What made you decide to have sex with him if you hadn't realized that you were attracted to guys before that," Anita asked me. I just smirked at her for a moment.

"You have to ask that after sleeping with Nate? Have you seen those two?" I got a laugh in response. "That and we both thought we were going to die in that cell on the moon. I didn't have anything else to lose."

"I think I saw a picture from the cell on the moon," she admitted. "Edward had it, you were both shackled. I can't imagine sex was very easy in that state."

"Well, it was more like he offered me oral sex since our hands were so awkwardly secured," I explained. "They had already shut off the air supply so at the time, I blamed oxygen deprivation. I didn't have any excuse for any of the subsequent times we fooled around."

"What Fei there doesn't want to explain is how much he thoroughly enjoys having sex," Duo interrupted as he walked in the door. He perched on my desk with a smile . He was carrying a coffee from the the cafe down the street. "I'm still pissed that he got into 01's pants before I did."

"Right place, right time," I replied with a slight blush. "And I told you, he would never have realized that you were making advances on him because he's completely oblivious to social cues. All you had to do was tell him what you wanted and he would have done it."

"It's always a shame that he's mostly straight though," Duo admitted. "Now that one time, on L1 with you and Quat, that was pretty awesome. I still regret never figuring out how to get Trowa to join in. Now that would have been awesome. I wonder if he'd join us now that he's involved with Quat?"

I was blushing terribly while my lover was brazenly telling a woman about our sexual exploits. "Maxwell, I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask him."

"When have I ever been appropriate about anything?"

"You have a point," I admitted.

"You know, enjoying sex with someone or someones who also enjoys it, is nothing to be ashamed of," Anita interrupted. "As long as it's consensual, there is nothing wrong with what Duo's proposing. I'm just trying to reconcile the image I have of you two and Mr. Winner with what you are talking about."

"Let's just say, that polite and cute blond has sex like he's piloting his gundam," Duo said with a waggle of his eyebrows. "He's definitely a force to be reckoned with."

"Duo, I think that she meant that she couldn't picture all three of us together," I explained still fighting to control my blush. "It's not exactly normal for more than two people to routinely have sex together or separately with each other."

"No, there's nothing wrong with that at all," she explained. "The word for it is polyamorous."

"Ah, so I take it that the rumors of your many lovers are true," Duo asked unabashedly.

"Depends on what rumor's that you've heard," she replied.


	28. Chapter 28

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(WuFei POV)

"Depends on what rumor's that you've heard."

"Well," Duo replied to Anita while leaning back on my desk. "We've heard everything from you're just dating Jean Claude and people are jealous so they are making up rumors that you're sleeping with anything that moves. There's also the one about Jean Claude pimping you out to secure his power. Then there's my personal favorite, that you're some sort of sex demon."

"I'm assuming with your use of the word 'polyamorous' that you are indeed in a relationship with multiple people," I interjected. "Having met Jean Claude, I doubt that he would force you into sex if you didn't want to. I do think some of the more negative views are due to people's jealousy. The demon thing sounds like the hardest to believe because I don't think that you're actually a demon."

"I'm not a demon," she said coldly. "I do appreciate you thinking high enough of me that you are rejecting some of the more hurtful rumors."

"Don't get me wrong," I replied. "I think the truth is somewhere in all of those rumors."

"Can't I simply be polyamorous?"

"Anita, darling," Duo replied leaning towards her across the desk. "There is nothing simple about you."

"We're starting to realize that nothing is really as it seems around here," I further explained. "We'd be bad investigators if we took everything at face value."

Anita sat back in Duo's desk chair and drank the last of her tea. She seemed to be thinking very hard. Her dark eyes regarded us. I knew that she thought of us a chidren when we really were not that much younger than her. We were both older than her lover, Nathaniel. She had been working as a Federal Marshall for years though which always makes one feel like they are older than their years. I know Duo and I always felt like we were years older than the 21 year old recruits that came into the Preventers. We fought in the Wars while those recruits were still playing high school football and gathering courage to ask the pretty girl in their English class out on Saturday nights.

Despite Anita being 27 years old, she had only been in the 'line of duty' as a Marshal and working for the police for about 5 years. Duo and I had been in active duty since we were 15 and training for it since before that. We still had several years on her even though we both were only 21 years old.

"You know," Duo interrupted her train of thought. "We really don't give a flying fuck who you are having sex with or why. I just want you to understand that Nate is my baby brother and you better not hurt him."

I laughed at Duo's insistence on being the protective big brother. Anita joined me. "I believe that I made similiar threats back when this whole thing started about you hurting my Nathaniel," she told Duo.

"Then we're even," he said tossing his empty coffee cup in the trash bin. "I don't want him hurt. Even though he had one shitty childhood, he's not like us. He has no training and doesn't think like we do. Compared to us, he's an innocent. I saw him on the range. He's entirely not comfortable with the thought of firing a gun. He at least understands that a gun is a weapon and not a toy but I honestly think that he'd have a hard time firing it because he knows it would hurt whoever it was aimed at."

"You're right, he's not a killer," she replied. "I just hope that if the time comes where he has to use a gun, that he'll be able to protect himself."

"He's resourceful and he has a lot to live for now," my partner explained. "He'll do what he has to do. If he does have to hurt someone, you better be there afterwards because it's not going to be pretty."

"How old were you two when you quit having nightmares about those that you've killed?"

Duo and I looked at each other. I coldly looked back at her. "When did you?"

"I don't lose sleep when it was to protect myself or the ones I love," she replied. "In the line of duty, it's just my job."

"They why did you ask us?" Duo replied. "Everything we've done has been in the line of duty."

"I just have a hard time picturing children killing as easily as I do," she finally explained.

"You saw us dance on stage with your leopard," I replied. "Are you telling us that you still view us as children? Even after all that you have learned about us, you still think of us as young?"

"No, I don't think that you are currently children," she ammended before picking up the picture on Duo's desk again. The picture from the end of the first war. "This is the image that I can't get out of my head. I've met child vampires, which are so far against the rules of vampires that they are usually killed when found. They are usually twisted, evil things. You two are not like that."

"Well, neither of us were what you could call 'children', even when we were being trained," Duo explained. "I had no childhood to speak of, as you are well aware. Nanashi and 01 were both raised entirely as mercenaries or assassins."

"I was culturally taught that I was to take on adult responsiblities by the time I had reached puberty so despite my young age, I never thought of myself as a child. I was married, after all," I told her.

"Quatre was the only one who had anything that resembled a childhood and by most standards, it was not even remotely normal."

"So it must be infinitely more frustrating to have your coworkers still treat you like kids then," Anita said looking towards the door of our office. It was shut but you could still see out the window in it towards the other Preventers working.

"Well, other than being annoying when we're actually in the office with the desk jockeys," my partner shrugged. "The field agents know us. We no longer have to prove anything. I hate being in the office anyways."

"But these are people you have to work with on a daily basis," she argued.

"Yeah, but we aren't here to make friends," I stated.

"Where have I heard that before," Duo joked. "You've been saying that since the first time we met."

"Well, it's still true," I explained. "I have all the friends that I need."

"You can never have too many friends," Duo chides. It is an old argument.

"I'm making friends with those who matter. The ones here who hate us without knowing us, they don't matter," I tell him. "Your brother and his family, they matter. They are important."

"It's good to know that you think we matter," Anita says to me.


	29. Chapter 29

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, and Anita/anything male….

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Author's Note: I wrote a smutty side fic to this story called "An Unusual Arrangement". It takes place during the war and involves Duo and Quatre getting it on with Wu Fei (as mentioned a few chapters back). Please go and enjoy it!

(WuFei POV)

Sunday afternoon found us driving back across the state line to visit Duo's aunt. I was driving, Anita was riding shotgun and the brothers were sitting in the back seat together. Duo was very excited to be seeing his family again. Nathaniel on the other hand was nervous as hell.

"I don't know what to tell her," he admitted about ten minutes into the drive.

"What do you mean," his brother asked.

"About me," he said as if that would explain everything. I could see in the rearview mirror that my partner just looked at him with an expression that clearly stated he did not follow what he had said. Nate continued then, "I mean, my life. I'm not exactly normal. I'm a wereleopard and a stripper. I never graduated high school. I've been a drug addicted prostitute and made porn films. I'm not exactly someone you take home for Sunday dinner."

"You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to," Anita stated coolly.

"Natty," Duo said taking his hand. "She was so excited to find out that we were still alive that I don't think that she will have any problems with who you are."

"What if she doesn't want me around her kids in case I could infect them with lycanthrope?"

"She's a trauma nurse," I explained to him. "She understands infection and precautions. I don't think she'll have too much of a problem with that."

"I just," the young leopard sighed. "I just want her to accept me. I remember her vaguely and I remember that she loved us very much. But she left me. When things started to go very badly, she left me. She didn't protect us from our stepfather. She first left us with that monster and then when I was taken from him, after I lost Nicky, she left me with barely a visit every few months in the foster homes."

"She abandoned you," I clarified. "Whether she realized it at the time or not, that's what you felt."

"Yeah," he replied with his voice sounding very young and small. "Like rationally, I know she was just a kid herself but when I was younger, I had hoped that she would come and rescue me."

"I remember nights on the streets," Duo stated while still holding his brother's hand. "We would make up stories with the other kids to pass the time at night when we were trying not to freeze. We would dream that we had some loving relative out there that would come and rescue us. It never happened for any of us."

"I would wake up at night from dreams where my mother would just show up out of the blue and reveal that she wasn't dead," Anita offered. "I remember the feeling of abandonment when I woke up and realized it would never happen."

"I don't really like talking about it, because it was a much more recent loss to me, but L5- A0206 was my home. It was the colony in the L5 cluster that I spent my entire life on before the war. The Elders decided that instead of allowing my entire Clan to be hostages of OZ blew it up. The home that I fought for, that my wife died for, decided that they were better to me dead than alive. I was abandoned by everyone I had ever known and loved," I explained with my voice being cold and detached. I knew that I had never fully grieved the loss of my entire family. "If I had the chance to see someone whom I thought I had lost from then, even if it were my bratty cousin Ming, I would be excited. I would also be worried, too, because I'm not exactly the man I was back then. You two have a chance that we have all dreamed of. Yeah, I understand the abandonment but I have also come to understand forgiveness, too. It will take you a long time to trust her but with the lives that we all had, we need to grasp at any chance of a loving family we have."

"Wow, that was quite a speech there, Fei. I was waiting the whole time for you to work 'justice' in there," my insolent lover joked. "No, but really, I met her. I don't think she will have any problem with who you are. I get the not trusting her though. She didn't mean to abandon us, but she did. I think we have to remember that when all of this went down, she was only 18 years old. Typical 18 year olds aren't exactly well known for their long term planning and rational decisions."

"I will try, I guess. I think she does deserve another chance. She did lose as much of her family as we did. She was just old enough to be able to protect herself where we as children, were not," Nathaniel replied thoughtfully.

"Well, we're here," I said pulling into their drive way. "Ready or not."

We all piled out of the car. Nathaniel clung to Anita's hand as we walked up to the house. Duo was on the other side of him and I led our rag-tag group to the front porch. The door swung open and we were greeted by Stacy. She was beaming with a smile that was so much like Duo's it actually brought a smile to my face.

"Nathaniel!" She said immediately pulling him into her arms. "My little boys! You both have grown up so much."

"Hello, Aunt Stacy," was all the wereleopard managed to say.

"Aunt Stacy!" Duo exclaimed pulling her from his brother so he could hug her. I caught that it was his attempt to help his brother relax because the woman's exuberance seemed to have daunted him. "You look lovely!"

"Thank you, sweetie," she replied. "Please, everyone, come in."

We followed her into the house where we were met with her husband Chris, and her three children. We had already met the younger two - Jessica and Brian but the oldest, a 15 year old boy named Josh. He was blonde like his mom but otherwise looked a lot like his father.

We made introductions all around. Chris seemed to be a nice enough man. He was an accountant and a few years his wife's senior. He had an easy smile and quick wit. Their younger kids were inquisitive and very excited to meet their cousins. Jessica was quite excited to see that not only did her cousin Duo have a long braid but so did Nathaniel. I was amused that more and more, we were seeing Duo's brother wearing his hair like his.

Josh, we were amused to discover, had the typical social skills of a boy his age. After introductions, he looked right at Maxwell and asked, "So, is Wu Fei your boyfriend?"

We looked at each other and shrugged. We weren't really trying to hide anything so Duo answered, "Yeah, we've been together since we were about your age."

"Huh, cool," was all he said turning his attention to Ms. Blake. "And you're that famous vampire hunter. I've seen you on tv."

"Yeah, that's my job," she answered. There was a note of challenge in her voice.

"Very cool, but I thought you were the Master of the City's girlfriend," the kid replied.

"Yeah, well, I'm also Nathaniel's girlfriend."

"Cool." The kid seemed to have a very limited vocabulary. It was kind of annoying but cute at the same time. I remembered being his age and, well, not being very childlike. It was actually refreshing seeing a kid actually act his age. This is what normal teenagers were like - without blowing up military bases or being a mass murderer.

"Josh, enough with the questions," Stacy said pushing him towards the dining room. "I need you to finish setting the table so we can eat lunch. Do you two still like tacos?"

"I'll eat just about anything," my partner replied. It was the truth; thanks to his time starving on the streets, there was very little that he wouldn't eat.

"Good. It was one of the few things that I could actually cook when I was a kid and you two just loved them. I do admit that I'm still not much of a cook but I can still make a descent taco."

We settled around the dining room table. It was a pretty informal affair with people passing the taco ingredients around in barely controlled chaos. The kids were in the process of making quite a mess while Chris seemed to just follow behind cleaning up after them.

"So, you two have been together since you were fifteen?" His aunt asked us. "You've been together for a long time then."

Duo laughed nervously. "Um, we, ah, dated on and off for a couple of years since it was really a long distance relationship. We've only been officially together for about three and half years."

"Long distance?" Chris asked while passing the sour cream to his daughter.

"Well, I'm originally from the L5 cluster and he was on L2," I explained. "We knew each other and saw each other rather infrequently between ages 15 to 17."

"How did you two wind up together?" Anita asked before taking a bite of her taco.

"It's kind of a funny story," Duo explained. He had salsa on his chin so I handed him his napkin which was laying on the table instead of in his lap. He wiped his face before continuing. "He had already been working for the Preventers and I got recruited. I had no where to stay in Sanq since I had been living on L2 again. He offered me a place to stay and I took him up on it until I could find a place of my own."

"It wasn't until six months later when we realized that he had never even started to look for his own place and we had just built our daily routines around each other, that we realized that we were a couple," I finished. "Our friend Quat was the one who pointed it out to us when he joked that we were acting like an old married couple."

"So you live in Sanq?" Stacy asked us.

"Well, that is where our apartment lease is," Duo explained. "But really, we travel too much to call it home. Commander Une had temporarily transfered us to the St Louis office since I found Nate."

"I hope that you get to stay," his aunt replied.

"Well, we can't guarantee how long we'll be at any one base since our job causes us to travel so much. But this is definitely starting to feel like home," Duo replied.

"You're job must be very exciting to get to travel so much," Stacy said. I knew she had some basic clue about the dangers of our job since she was a trauma nurse and knew what even the local police brought into her emergency room. "Although, it must be rather dangerous."

"Danger is my middle name!" my partner joked while brandishing his fork like a weapon.

"So what do you do for a living, Natty?" his uncle Chris asked.

"I, uh, I'm a dancer," he replied nervously.

"He's a stripper at Guilty Pleasures," Josh, the impetuous teen interjected. "All the girls at school are obsessed with the club even though they aren't old enough to get in. They download all the pictures off of the website. His picture is in like all of the girl's lockers. It's the hair, I think. Chicks love his hair."

Nate just kind of shrugged. "Yeah. I dance there."

"Oh," his aunt replied a little awkwardly.

"I can't wait to tell Makayla and Julie that my cousin is their favorite wereleopard!" The kid exclaimed. "This is so cool."

"You're a leopard?" His aunt asked.

"Um, yeah. I contracted lycanthropy when I was 17," he explained not looking up from his plate of half eaten food. "It wasn't a very good time in my life. I was on the street at the time and addicted to drugs. The leopards saved my life because I was in such a downward spiral then."

Anita put her arm around his shoulders to comfort him. He leaned into her touch. Stacy reached across the table and placed her hand on his. "I know you boys went through hell. A hell that I can't even imagine and one that I think I need to hear about when you're ready to tell me. I am so sorry that I was not there for you. I was young and hurting myself. I know that isn't an excuse. I'm not expecting you to forgive me because, frankly, I am not ready to forgive myself yet. But I want you to know that I still love you. I love you both so very much and feel that I am truly blessed to have you come back into my life."

"Thank you, Aunt Stacy," Nate replied wiping a tear from his eye. "I needed to hear that. I'm still working through a lot of my issues from childhood but to hear that despite it all, you still love me, that means a lot."

"You're right, we're not quite ready to forgive yet," Duo said with a sad smile on his face. "And both of us have been through hell to get where we are today. And our hells have been eerily similar while being vastly different. We aren't the little boys you lost over 15 years ago. I kind of think they died that night the bastard beat my brains in. It will take us a while to trust you again but I have learned one thing in those 15 years. You need to take love for what it is. Don't take it for granted and give it back just as fiercely as it is given because nothing in this world lasts."

"You are very wise for only being only 21," Stacy said wiping her own tears. "I wish that I would have been as wise at 18 as you are now. Maybe things would have turned out differently."

"I don't regret how my life turned out," Duo explained placing his hand on hers where it rested on his brother's. "Sure, there were some pretty shitty parts. But there were some pretty awesome parts, too. I had seen more of the world and space when I was Josh's age, than just about anyone else in the world. My life experiences led me to Fei, here, and also to the career that I have. I love what I do and am pretty good at it, too. And, it eventually led me back here."

"Me, too," Nate said with a soft voice. "I haven't travelled like he has or go the education or career he does, but my life has brought me to where I am now. And right now, I'm pretty happy with my life."

"I'm glad that you both have made it to where you are now despite everything," their aunt said sincerly. "I'm just glad that I get to be a part of it again."


	30. Chapter 30

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, 4x3 and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

Author's Note: Chapter 30? Wow... Never thought this fic would get this long! Thanks for sticking with me over 30 chapters and 7 years. There's still a chapters left but I felt like I needed to thank the readers that have been with me the entire time. Your reviews have been awesome (some of you review every chapter!). THANK YOU!

(Duo's POV)

"Hi, mom," I said barely over a whisper. I was sitting on the ground in front of her gravestone. Anita had gotten me a map of the graveyard and my Aunt Stacy marked where everyone was buried. I had offered to bring my brother with me but he said that he wasn't ready yet.

"I'm sorry that I never talked to you before. I just didn't really know who you were. I knew, on some level, that at one point I had parents but never really had a name or a face to go with it. Your name was Susie and I look an awful lot like you. I finally saw some pictures of you. You were beautiful. I really wish that I could have gotten to know you or at least remember you."

I looked at the headstone with its name and dates etched into it. It also said "Beloved Mother". I toyed with the bouquet of flowers laying in my lap. I was still struggling with the guilt of not being able to remember much of my childhood before landing on L2.

"Fei said not to worry about the memories right now. He said that they may come back in time. I've been able to remember a bit more of being with Natty but its still not much. That bastard of a stepfather really did a number on me. I guess, as Heero has teased me often, that head injury explains so much.

"I guess I should back track since I don't know how much of my life you've been watching. Fei is the love of my life and Heero is my best friend. Quatre and Trowa make up the rest of our little family. A lot of bad stuff happened in my life but I want you to know that I'm happy despite it or maybe because of it. I mean, the bad stuff really made me appreciate the good stuff.

"If it wasn't for the douche bag trying to sell me into prostitution when I was little, I wouldn't have wound up on L2. Now that colony isn't the best place in the world but it's where I met my friend Solo and then Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. They really changed my life. They took care of me when no one else would. They made me feel special and wanted. I was lost for a long time after they died."

I sighed thinking the first family that I had concrete memory of. I was a very angry kid after the church had been destroyed. So angry that a lot of times, I did some rather regretable stuff. I did not take my own safety into consideration.

"But without losing them, I wouldn't have found myself with the Sweepers and then with Professor G. Yeah, he was training me to be a terrorist and killing machine but he also gave me an opportunity that I never would have gotten otherwise. I got an education because of him. I learned so much about math, science, history, languages, everything. I never knew how smart I was until then.

"Then came the war. I'm not going to lie - because I don't do that, but I did some terrible things during the war. I did things that I will have nightmares about for the rest of my life. The war though, also led me to my family of choice. The other boys I fought along side, we were all so different but all so alone and the same. I met Heero first. I shot him, actually. Definitely a different way to start a friendship. Wu Fei and I fought a lot when we first met. We had quite a rocky start but love really snuck up on us.

"Quat, you'd probably really like him. He's just so nice. Don't get me wrong, he's hard as nails when he needs to be though. Trowa is as quiet as I am loud. You wouldn't think we'd get along so well but we do. He wasn't as open to me or the rest of the guys until recently. We've all got our issues and he's just starting to work through them."

I sat quietly for a while. The cemetery plot really was in a nice place. My mom was buried in the shade of maple tree. Right next to her grave was her parents. They had a joint headstone. I had not really talked to my aunt about them very much yet.

"I hope that you can look down on me and be proud. I may not have come from the best of places but I really think I've made something of myself. I have a career and someone that I am madly in love with. I'm happy, too. Did I mention that? I am really happy now. I wish you could be here with me to enjoy life but I know that you're probably happy looking down on me.

"Natty misses you, too. He actually remembers you. He's still hurting though. His life beat him down more than mine did. The few high points in my life didn't happen for him until recently. He has family to love him and support him now. He's working on his issues so I'm sure one day he'll be able to forgive you or at least forgive himself for being angry at you. He's told me that he's felt nothing but abandonment in his life. I did, too, for a long time but my friends really kicked my ass about it and made me look at my life differently. I hope I can help my little brother do that as well."

I sat in silence for quite a while. I didn't cry which is what I thought I would do. I just felt calm. I was pulled out of my thoughts though when I heard footsteps advancing. I looked over to the path nearby to see my partner approaching. He was putting his cell phone back in his pocket.

"Care if I join you?" He asked as he walked up next to me. I smiled and nodded to him. He turned towards the graves and bowed. I don't know if he was breathing a prayer or something but he did have his eyes closed for a moment. I appreciated the respect he was showing them.

"What did Preventer Silver have to say?" I asked after he sat down next to me in the grass.

"They followed your records at the hospital from when you supposedly died. Turns out, the doctor who signed your death certificate still worked there. Silver got him to admit to faking the paperwork."

"How'd he manage that? If I were the doctor, I wouldn't admit to anything since he's probably going to lose his liscense," I said. I didn't think it was going to be that easy to get information out of him.

"Yeah, well, it seems that he was more afraid of Officer Brandon back then. As soon as he was offered a lesser charge if he spilled the beans on him, he sang a different tune. Turns out, good old Jimmy had threatened him back then to do it. The doctor was kind of shady to start with and was afraid Jimmy would turn him in. Knowing that we were investigating Jimmy to arrest him gave him the safety to tell the truth."

"Did he tell us what we needed?"

Fei looked at me and smiled. "He had names, dates, and detailed descriptions of everything that went down. It turns out Jimmy was supposed to sell both of you but since Nathaniel ran away, he was left with only you. I guess the trafficker was pissed and only gave Jimmy half the payment since he only delivered one of you and you were damaged at that."

I leaned against his shoulder. He put his arm around me in support. I'm not really sure what I did to deserve such a great partner but I definitely appreciate it. "So what's next?"

"Next," he said tightening his arm around me. "Next, we go after your stepfather. We bring him in and charge him."

"Sounds like a plan."


	31. Chapter 31

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now )

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, 4x3 and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

"Thanks for coming into today, Officer Brandon," I said keeping my voice very neutral. I really wanted to punch him in the face though, truth be told.

"Yeah, it was no problem," he replied trying to give me a 'good ole boy' smile. He was dressed extremely casually in ratty, old jeans and a shirt that had a small grease stain on the front. I was pretty sure that he either didn't notice the stain or he just didn't care. "The Preventer on the phone said that they needed me to come in to help with an investigation?"

"If you'll follow me back where we can speak privately since it is an ongoing investigation, Officer Brandon" I instructed leading him towards one of our interrogation rooms. I was taking him to the one that looked like a conference room. It lacked the telltale window that you usually associate with interrogation rooms. There were closed circut cameras recording everything. The room was also able to be monitored via the television in the office right next to it. We already had several people in there waiting to watch the questioning.

"Call me Jimmy," he smiled again and I resisted the urge to hit him. He then started to try to engage me in small talk. He really had no idea why he was called in. "This is a very nice office you have here. Have you been here long? Well, obviously you haven't been here long Preventer Day. You're really young - are you just out of the academy?"

"The St Louis branch has been here for about two years," I replied leading him back towards the interrogation room. "And as for me, I've been with the Preventers since the beginning."

"Ah, you must be older than you look. I guess what they say about Asians is true."

I just looked at him with my eye brow raised. I did not even want to dignify his racial stereotype with an answer. I didn't have to say anything though, because he just kept right on talking his way further into a corner. If I didn't already hate the man for what I knew he had done to my partner, I would have still formed the same opinion of him from the moment he opened his mouth.

"You know, they always say that Asians look young like they're teenagers and then all of a sudden, they look ancient," he explained showing his complete lack of tact.

"Right in here, Jimmy," I said trying to keep venom out of my voice. I was supposed to be the friendly interrogator. I lead him to sit at the table with me. "We're just waiting for Preventer Night to get here. He was getting some coffee."

"Preventer Night and Preventer Day - did you two make that up or something?"

"Ranking Preventers agents get code names," I explained off handedly.

"Code names? Does that make you like spys? Hey, I was wondering, how does one become a Preventer? Is there an academy or something, any age limits?" He had the audacity to ask.

"There is an academy for any new recruits. It's pretty physically demanding and rather hard to get in," I explained while mentally laughing at this aging beat-cop implying that he wanted to be a Preventer. With his track record with the local police force, they would just laugh at his application before probably lighting it on fire. I met the recruiters before, they would do that. Duo got along with them well.

It was that moment that Duo walked into the interrogation room. He was carrying two mugs in one and and a styrofoam cup in the other hand. "Sorry I'm running late. The stupid coffee pot was giving me fits. There's that crappy powdered creamer and sugars on the table over there if you want."

He set the foam cup in front of Jimmy. I noted that he had brought our cups from our office. Mine had my tea in it prepared just the way I liked it. My partner's cup, with a grinning Grim Reaper on it, was filled with the coffee from the shop down the street. I could smell the hazelnut flavoring that he tended to order. I was willing to bet that the swill in the styrofoam cup was from the communal coffee pot in the break room.

"Thanks, I take it black," the police officer replied taking a swig of the coffee. "So what are you two working on that you need my help with the investigation."

"Well, you see," I started after glancing at Duo to see if he wanted me to start. We had talked before this that he wanted me to lead the interrogation because he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to talk with the man civilly. I had offered to have Preventer Silver help and let him watch in the other room but he wanted in here to confront the man. "We had gotten a lead out in the colonies regarding a human traffic ring that you may have some information on. Tell us what you remember of Anthony Karchev."

I listened while the idiot proceeded to ramble on and on, rather uncomfortably I might add, about his botched arrest of Karchev. He blamed everyone else but himself for the case getting thrown out. I let him talk for a while as I was just sitting impassively across from him. Duo had never really sat down and was pacing behind me. I could hear his boots hit the floor as he moved back and forth.

I finally interrupted him when he was complaining about the judge having his panties in a wad aobut the evidence to ask, "We've recently discovered that there were some association between Karchev and a Dr. Patel in St Louis from shortly after the trial. We are trying to figure out what their connection was."

Jimmy was starting to look very nervous. He muttered something about not knowing who the doctor was that we were referring to. "And well, you know, like most doctor's are named Patel or something equally as foriegn. It's not like you could actually get treated around here by anyone but some Indian doctor that you can't understand what they are saying. I wish they would stay in their own countries and leave the medical jobs to the Americans."

"I'll ask you just this once to refrain from making any more racially insulting commentary," I warned. I could feel my eye start to twitch in controlled anger.

"Sorry man, I assumed since you were a Prenventer and spoke English pretty well that you wouldn't be offended," he argued.

"I'm not American, I'm Chinese and the Preventers are an international agency," I corrected trying to take a deep breath and calm down. This slime ball wasn't worth getting angry over his bigotry. "And going back to the question, I should hope that you remember Dr. Patel since he was the one that treated your stepson the night that he died."

The color drained from his face. It was clear that he knew exactly who we were talking about. He tried to recover though, "Oh, that doctor. I had forgotten his name since it was such a traumatic night."

"It would be traumatic," Duo finally spoke up. His voice cold and low. He was leaning over my shoulder to stare down at the man before us. "Seeing as how one child died and another ran away and wound up going into foster care. It must have been a very bad night for you, indeed."

"Those boys were troubled," Jimmy argued trying to look at me instead of my partner. He looked visibly shaken by Maxwell's tone and probably the look in his eyes. "I still can't believe that the younger brat pushed his brother down the stairs like that and then ran away. He killed his first person at the age of five. Last I heard, several years ago, that kid had gotten involved in drugs and prostitution. Hopefully the guilt of killing his brother haunts him the rest of his short life."

Duo was practically vibrating with anger. I muttered a few calming words in Japanese since I was willing to bet that our ethnocentric suspect here wasn't well versed in any language but his poor excuse for English. It seemed to calm my partner down a notch though, which was the desired effect.

"Now you see," Preventer Night stated while he sat down in the chair beside me. He was glaring right into the police officer's dull, grey eyes. "We seemed to have uncovered a different story involving your stepsons - one that does not involve murder of a child by a younger child."

"Have you been talking to that brat, Nathaniel?"

"I'm not about to tell you our sources," he stated while leaning over the table some. I watched as Jimmy cowered back from Duo. "We just have evidence to believe that Nicholas was very much alive when he left the hospital and that Dr. Patel forged his death certificate."

"Nicholas is alive?" Jimmy gasped in mock surprise. I really wanted to shake the man because of his feeble attempts to cover his own ass. "What did Dr. Patel do to him?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Jimmy Brandon," my partner warned. He was starting to remind me of when we were in the war and he used his Shinigami persona to do some very bad things to those we were fighting against. "We are well aware of your involvement with Anthony Karchev. You sold Nicholas into child prostitution, didn't you?"

"What? I would do no such thing! What are you even implying? I loved those boys and would never hurt them!"

"If you loved those, troubled boys as you called them, why did you routinely beat them?"

I was sitting back and just watching the exchange. I was ready to jump in between them if anything would happen. Duo was all rigid muscle and tension. He was tightly coiled anger. Jimmy was practically cowering in his seat. There was a strange irony in his outright fear of the same boy he beat as a child.

"I never laid a hand on them!" He replied defensively. "Have you been talking to Nathaniel? He always did hate me. I could see him coming up with a wild story like that."

"Actually, if you really want to know, we had the evidence against you even before we spoke with Nathaniel," I cut in. "His testimony was just the icing on the cake, so to speak."

"And you'll believe a drug addicticted prostitute over a fellow law enforcement agent?" He was fishing and he knew it.

"Actually, we had some other witnesses that were law enforcement come forward first," I replied. "You'll want to be very careful with what you are saying because the evidence we have is very damning."

"What evidence?" He asked looking at me with fear in his eyes.

Duo grinned widely. It was not a happy grin. It was downright evil. "First hand testimony that you sold your older stepson into sex slavery and had attempted to sell his younger brother."

"I want my lawyer," Jimmy said abruptly. Sweat was trickling down his face at this point.

"You see, we don't have to provide you access to one until we're done questioning you," I explained to him. "You're being charged by preventers because it's an international crime."

"But if what you're saying is true, then it occurred locally and I would still qualify for a lawyer," he argued looking back and forth between the two of us.

"That's where you're wrong," I stated. "Seeing as the human trafficking involved both here and going up to the colonies, specifically L2, then you fall under Preventer's jursidiction.

"How do you know it went up to L2?"

"Witnessess," was all Duo stated.

"What do you mean, witnesses? I thought Karchev died in prison years ago."

"Oh, he's not our witness, we actually have some of his victims as witnesses," Duo stated with another grin. "We have first hand testimony that you were the one who beat your stepson senseless and then handed him off to Mr. Karchev at the hospital after Dr. Patel pronounced him dead."

"Well, the kid's dead either way," Jimmy stated while still sweating. He knew he was in trouble deep. "I was told that he didn't survive transport. And that bastard Karchev came and took the money he gave me back due to lost property so some such shit. The kid died while in his care. He's the one that murdered the boy."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," I said with a smirk.

"Nicholas Graison isn't dead, in fact he's very much alive and able to give us very reliable testimony against you," Duo stated with a laugh. "In fact, he's very much a reliable witness since he works for the Preventers himself. So I think yes, we would believe a fellow law enforcement agent over a recovering drug addict."

"And in this case, we will definitely believe one of the highest ranking Preventer agents with a perfect track record over a lowly beat cop with more infractions in his record than should actually be allowed to happen on a local police force."

"You?!" Jimmy Brandon replied pointing to my partner. "How can you be alive? Those damn eyes of yours, they're still the same!"

"I hope these eyes of mine haunt you for the rest of your life in prison," Duo said while leaning down into his abuser's face. He turned on his heel and strode out of the room. I let the other officers come in and arrest him as I followed my partner out.


	32. Chapter 32

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now)

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, 4x3 and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

I held my breath until I was out of the interrogation room and into the room next door. Duo followed me in as well. When he shut the door, I let out a stream of the foulest things that I could think of in my native tongue. I want to hit something. That man was the vilest individual that I had ever met.

"Did you just call him a 'stupid son of drooling whore and a monkey'?" Duo asked me as he walked past me into the room. "Because if you did, I so need to add that phrase to my daily use."

"I need to quit teaching you Mandarin," I replied looking at my partner. His body appeared to be as strung as tightly as I felt. I wrapped my arms around him and just held him for a moment. It took him a second to respond. He was holding his body so rigidly. I remembered him like this during the war when he would get so angry. He needed a good outlet for it. Hell, I needed a good outlet for my anger.

"How could you two talk to him without punching him in the face?" Anita asked from her seat at the table. She and Nathaniel were among the people watching the interrogation over the monitors.

"Believe me, it was a near thing," I admitted. "I wanted to hit him the moment he opened his mouth."

"I wanted to hit him the moment I saw him," Duo admitted. "I thought he'd be taller."

"Yeah, I remember him towering over us," Nathaniel admitted. "He was barely taller than Wu Fei."

"Well, we were pretty little the last time we saw him," his brother suggested. "Then again, now we may just be looking at him as the sad, little man that he is. What a fucking douche-canoe."

"And you made fun of my language?" I jibed at him.

"Fuck, I just, fuck," Duo muttered before slamming his fists down on the table. His brother got up and went to him. The held each other for a while. I looked away from them to the others gathered in the room. Marshall Blake was still seated at the table while Commander Une was pacing behind her. I had not known that she was flying in from Brussels until this morning. I was glad that she was here though so she could oversee the interrogation personally. Her personal assistant was still furiously typing away at the computer taking notes on the entire thing. He would watch the recording several more times to finalize the notes, I knew this from experience.

"So now what?" Ms. Blake asked to the room in general.

"Now," the head of Preventers replied drawing all the attention in the room to her. "Now, we charge James Brandon with human trafficking across international and space borders. He will be held in a local prison until his trial and then, if found guilty by the judge, and I don't doubt that he will be, he will be sent to L3 colony X20389."

"Is that some sort of penal colony?" Nathaniel asked still clinging to his brother for support.

"Yeah," Duo explained. "It's where we send exceptionally bad people to be forgotten about. It's like the Alcatraz of space. You can't really escape from there because, really, where would you go? It's in space."

"That is if he survives being in the local lock up," I conjectured. "Police tend to not fair so well when locked up with the people they already arrested."

"Oh, he'll survive," our commanding officer stated. "He'll be kept out of general population until the trial. Actually, he'll be in solitary the entire time. Alone with his thoughts and fears of being in prison with the very people he treated so poorly as a police officer. The guards can keep him physical safe but they can't control what the other inmates will be saying."

"This is where I like my line of work better," Anita spoke up with her dark eyes holding a fiery anger in their depths. "When we find the guilty party, there's an order of execution. I can just shoot the bastards."

"I don't want him dead," Nathaniel replied going to his girlfriend. "I want him to live with the thought that despite everything that he had done to us, he did not kill us. We overcame him and made our lives better than he could have ever imagined."

"I want him alive, too," Duo agreed. "Except, I'm not as nice as you are. I want him alive and afraid. I want him to cower on his filthy, little mattress in the cold and dark cell wondering when the next beating will come. I want him laying awake at night in fear. I want him to live every day knowing that someone hates him and wants to hurt him. I want him to live through the beatings that will inevitably come from the inmates who take particular offense to child abusers. I want him to die a sad, broken down, old man with the whole world knowing that he hurt two defenseless, orphaned kids who depended on him to keep them safe."

"Yes, well, we can only hope that is what happens, Preventer Night," Lady Une replied with a small smirk. "We will take the investigation from here. I want your written reports submitted by tomorrow and I mean that this time, Maxwell."

She exited the room to follow up with the Preventers that were handling the arrest and transfer of Jimmy to the local lock up. I just had to finish writing up my report on today's interrogation before I submitted it but I suspected that as usual, my partner was a little further behind. Either that or he had been writing it in crayon again. I would have to check his desk later to make sure he didn't do something even more ridiculous.

"I still can't get over how controlled you two were," Anita said after a few minutes of silence. "I would have thrown that hot coffee in his face as soon as I walked into the room and I've been working with the police as long as you two have."

"Oh believe me, I wanted him to drink the coffee," Duo said pulling his face into a manic grin. It was that dangerous grin that usually accompanied a visit from the Shinigami side of his personality. "Considering that I pissed in it right before bringing it in the room for him."

"What?!" I exclaimed looking at Duo in disbelief. You'd think that out of all the years that I had known my partner and his evil, twisted mind, that things like that wouldn't shock me. Then again, it wouldn't be Duo if he couldn't still shock me.

"He drank your urine in his coffee?" Anita asked in abject horror. "That must be some horrible coffee you guys serve here if he didn't notice."

Duo, his brother, and Anita continued to laugh about Duo's disgusting prank. Duo always seemed to us humor as his coping skill when he was really upset. I was not too worried about him after today. He got to confront his abuser and see him arrested. He also got the sorry excuse for a man to drink his piss as a bonus. Nathaniel had both is brother and his family with Anita and the rest of the wereleopards. He seemed quiet but not too overtly upset.

On the other hand, I was still completely worked up. It was all that I could do not to walk over to the interrogation room and beat the ever living shit out of that man. He had almost killed my lover when he was nothing but a defenseless child. He then knowingly tried to sell both him and his brother as child sex slaves to one of the vilest men in the Earthsphere. This was on top of years of physical abuse and neglect as well as whatever he did or didn't do to prevent their mother from dying of an overdose. I was really wishing that I still had my Gundam so I could just step on him like the repulsive insect that he is.

I excused myself stating that I was going to the gym to work off some frustration. Duo had a sad look in his eye but didn't stop me. He knew that I always needed to physically work out my anger or I would end up lashing out where I shouldn't. He did warn me not to hurt and of the local agents if I ended up sparring with them. I assured him that I was only going to hit the heavy bag for a while and possibly do some forms. I did not trust myself to not hurt someone in my anger.

As I was walking through the building to get to the gym located in the basement, I bumped into none other than Heero Yuy. I did not know he was going to be in the city today so it took me by surprise. He regarded my agitated state with his intense blue eyes. I always found those eyes so striking behind his dark hair and mostly Asian features.

"Yuy," I greeted him.

"Chang," he said in reply. "Une told me that you apprehended the man who abused Maxwell today. I was just going up to see how you two were doing."

"Duo's with his brother right now," I explained as I tried to step around him to resume my travel to the gym.

"So they are taking care of each other," the Japanese colonist replied. "You don't look like you're holding up very well though."

"I'm going to the gym to take care of that," I stated walking away. It was only a moment later that I heard him fall in step behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see him casually walking with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Good, I need a work out, too. That shuttle flight was long and boring," he replied as if I didn't realize that he was only going with me to spar with me and keep me from losing it in the guy. He knew my violent tendencies and had seen them first hand, and even experienced them. If I had him to spar with, then I wouldn't have to worry about hurting anyone else. The Gundam Pilot of Wing Zero was the strongest of all of us and could take whatever my frustrated state could dish out.

"It's been a long time since we sparred, Yuy. Are you up for it?"

He just made a noncommittal noise as he followed me into the locker room to change. I had to lend him some sweats to change into since he did have anything with him. We did not really speak as we changed and went out to the mats. The gym was relatively empty this time of day so we didn't have to worry about finding room. We bowed to each other and then I launched myself at him.

It was a brutal fight but controlled. We had sparred so many times in the past that we knew exactly how hard we could push each other. It was exhilarating. I knew that we would both be left with bruises tomorrow but it was worth it. I briefly wondered why we always deemed Yuy the strongest. We knew now that Trowa was actually a wererat which would make him faster and stronger than a human. Trowa had also admitted that Yuy was entirely human so one would think that he would not be as strong as Trowa. I was going to have to ask Yuy about it sometime. It would not be today though. Our battle was not going to be disturbed by conversation.

When we were finished, we both just were sitting on the mat catching our breath. It was a good fight and a much better workout than I had planned. My mood was definitely calmer than it had been before. My anger was now manageable. We were brought out of our companionable silence by the door to the gym opening and a rather undignified squeal.

"Hee-chan!" was all we heard coming from my braided partner before he practically dove on to Yuy. They fell back on to the mat. I kind of felt bad for him being tackled by my lover after having to spar with me. I knew that he already had to be sore but he took the diving hug without complaint. It had been several months since they had seen each other so the hug was to be expected.

"No one told me you were coming!" Duo blurted out. "And then Fei, here, had to kidnap you to the gym before I could even see you! And you're all sweaty now, yuck!"

I watched as Duo disengaged from the hug. I was always amused that with my lover, hugging did not just involve arms. In moments of excitement, his hugs included arms, legs, and usually his long braid wrapped around his victim. Heero always seemed to take it in stride though.

"I just go in and Wu Fei needed a workout more than I needed to be accosted by you," the Japanese man replied while righting himself once again on the mat. I watched as his attention went from Duo in front of him to the other two following behind the braided goofball. I could see his eyes widen minutely when he looked at Duo's brother. He had seen them over the video phone line but had yet to see them in person. I didn't miss the calculating glance he gave Ms. Blake as well. It seemed that she was about to meet the infamous pilot 01.


	33. Chapter 33

Title: Finding What Was Lost  
Author: Something Like Human  
Rating: 13+ (for now)  
Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.  
Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)  
Pairings: 2x5, 4x3, 1xR and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.  
(Quatre POV)  
Lounging in the small bed in the tiny apartment that Trowa was renting in the city was pure bliss. I had always assumed his overly warm body temperature was just because he was simply a warm person. Feeling the heat of his bare skin against mine I revelled in his warmth.  
"You're so warm," I said snuggling into him more.  
"It's because I'm a shifter, they have warmer body temperature than a human."  
He had his arm draped over me and was lazily tracing a scar that ran down my arm. "You say that like you're not human."  
"I'm not," he argued. "I'm a wererat. I've been a rat for as long as I can remember. If I had a human life, I can't recall it."  
"Well, it's not like I'm anything close to a 'normal human'. I'm space-stock," I admitted. "I thought for most of my life that I was a test tube baby like my sisters. I'm not but my entire family is. Nothing has really been able to explain my empathy although after talking to some more people in the preternatural community, I'm not the only empath."  
"They're rare," he replied softly. "I've never met another one myself."  
"You know what though," I said leaning up to look into his green eyes. "I think we're our own thing. The five of us, I mean. We're the only ones who know what it's like to be a Gundam pilot. We all live by our own rules and no one else has experienced life the way we have."  
"You have a point there," he said regarding me with those thoughtful eyes of his. The way he was laying, his long bangs were brushed completely to the side making both of his eyes visible. He was a truly stunning man. "I do consider you four my family much like I thought of the Rodere of my family when I was younger."  
I kissed him with all of the passion that I was feeling towards him. We were spent from our earlier activities but that didn't mean that my passion had been sated. I loved feeling his long fingered dance across my skin. He had initially tried to be so gentle with me. He told me that he was afraid that he would hurt me. He thought that he would lose control of his beast during sex and would hurt me. I reminded him quite emphatically that I did in fact pilot a giant robot during the war and was a trained soldier. I could still tell that he was holding back some even now that we had been together for a little while. I was actually anxious to see him not hold back at some point because even gripping my hips tonight had left bruises and I don't bruise easily.  
I had an absurd thought though.  
"So would a group of Gundam pilots be considered a pack or a flock?"  
I was treated to Trowa laughing whole heartedly at that. He was shaking his had at my silliness even. I loved the twinkle in his eyes when he laughed like that.  
"I mean, a pack sounds like we're wild animals - which, considering the company we keep, is accurate," I continued. "But since they were capable of flight, would that make them more like birds? I think we have to take Wing into consideration so a 'flock' would a good word."  
"Well, if you're thinking about it this deeply," he said with a chuckle. "I think comparing the mortality rate of our enemies, would't it be more accurate to call us a 'murder'?"  
"Like a murder of crows?" I laughed at him joining me in my musings. "I think that sounds rather harsh at this point. We haven't killed any one in a long time, well, we haven't illegally killed anyone in a long time. Everything's been in the line of duty with the Preventers."  
"A flock of Gundams then," he conceded with a patronizing chuckle.  
"Speaking of Preventers," I segwayed into another topic that we had been avoiding for a while. "Are you going back to work there?"  
"I am, at some point," he admitted. "I've been talking to Une about helping to train her new group of shifters as agents. That way, I can stay around here with the Rodere and still do some good in the agency."  
"You don't have to keep fighting as a Preventer, you know," I said stroking his cheek. I knew he felt a deep obligation towards the agency because it gave him a purpose after the war. "You've done your duty to them with all of the undercover work you've done. You've taken more missions than anyone. I think training the new recruits would be a nice change of pace. I also think it's probably good that the lycantropes get trained by one of their own."  
"I won't be the only one training them but at least I'd be someone that they could trust."  
"I can't imagine how hard it would be for you and the rest of the community," I admitted. "You've had to hide what you are for so long and there is such a stigma still associated with it."  
He sighed. I knew it was a rough subject for him. He never really fit in anywhere being a war orphan growing up and then after the war, he never fit in with the other Preventers because of his age and mysterious past. Since coming to St Louis, at least to me, he seemed to be feeling more at peace. I wasn't sure if it was because he was with his group of wererats or if it was because he had finally been open and honest with us.  
"Hiding is just a part of my nature," he stated. "I've done it all of my life so I don't even think about it any more. Now that I'm not hiding from you and our friends, I don't really know how I feel."  
I placed my hand on his chest and closed my eyes. I opened myself to him and his emotions. I had always be especially attuned to him even when we had first met while fighting in our giant war machines. The feeling of him flooded my senses. I smiled when I could sense his beast just under the surface - it was getting close to the full moon so the beast was closer to the surface. I swear that I could almost feel the soft fur brush under the palm of my hand but I knew that he had not shifted and I was only sensing the rat below the surface. I pushed deeper to where he held his emotions. I sensed some mild apprehension, probably due to our discussion, but under that, a sense of calm that I had not really ever felt from him.  
"You're at peace," I told him with a small smile. "You have nothing more to hide."  
"Yeah, at least from you and the rest of our... 'flock'."  
I laughed at his turn of phrase. I shuddered though when, with my hand still on his chest, I started feeling an emotion much more compelling than the calmness. I looked back to his eyes and had no doubt about the lust that I was feeling from him. I let out a rather undignified yelp when he rolled us over so that he was on top of me. He growled as he loomed over me. It seems that my little rat wanted to play again. I pulled him down on top of me and that was the end of our conversation for the night.


	34. Chapter 34

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+ (for now)

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, 4x3, 1xR and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

Nathaniel decided to host a picnic at their home to celebrate the arrest of his stepfather. I thought it was a little odd but considering, I was used to Winner setting up parties for lesser events. My personal favorite was the year we celebrated Miss Peacecraft's birthday by calling it a terrorism and kidnapping free event. Lady Une had even gotten into that one by letting Quatre borrow Mariemaia. Une and the little girl were supposed to be taking Relena out to lunch but instead brought her to the surprise party we were having for her.

We were hanging out in their large back yard. Nate was grilling with some help from Micah. Anita was talking to some of the wererats that came. There were a large group of wereleopards and wolves as well. Even Anita's friend Edward was there. It was kind of odd seeing the man sitting in a lawn chair talking laughing and drinking a soda with some Nate's other friends. Since it was during the day still, there were no vampires but I had been told that some were going to make an appearance later.

Nathaniel had even insisted that Duo's 'family' attend as well. I was currently sitting on a blanket in the grass surrounded by the other Gundam pilots. It was not often that the five of us got together. Even Relena was sitting among the group of boys. She was, much like Quatre, dressed very casually in the hopes that most people would not recognize her.

"Hey, guys and my lady," Jason said flopping down in the grass beside us. The blond was smiling wolfishly at the princess. We had not told him who she really was but considering he instantly spotted Quatre and recognized him on sight, I figured he would with Miss Peacecraft as well.

"Jason," my partner said with a smile. Duo was flopped down on his back on the blanket with his head resting on my lap. "Want to play fetch?"

"Only if you want me to beat you with the stick once you throw it," the young werewolf joked. "I was actually going to introduce myself to the rest of your pack here."

"Not a pack," Quatre said with a laugh.

"No, I think we determined we were a flock," Trowa supplied in a uncharacteristic joke. They seemed to be sharing in a private joke by the way they were looking at each other. I was very happy for them. They were still very much in the happy, new relationship stage but they were both more at ease with each other than I had ever seen them.

"A flock?" Yuy asked looking completely confused. He was sitting with his arm around his girlfriend.

"Well, we are a group of extra powerful beings, much like the lycanthropes, and we decided that we needed a group name," Quatre explained further. "We took the liberty to include Wing's attributes, Heero, in choosing our group name."

"Wings, like a bird," Relena said smiling. "Makes sense to me."

"Speaking of extra powerful," I addressed the pilot of Wing Gundam. "We were discussing your seemingly indestructable nature as well as your very fast healing."

"Yeah, Tro claims that you feel human to him," Duo interjected. "He said that you aren't a shifter like him but that you seemed, different, than human."

Yuy looked around at our gathered friends and his girlfriend. His intense blue eyes that always seemed odd on his obviously Japanese features actually looked a little worried. I was about to tell him that he could ignore our questions but he actually started talking.

"I'm not sure exactly how but Dr. J said that I'm part tengu."

"Like you were born that way or did that dirty bastard mess with your genes? Cuz, I wouldn't put it past that mad scientist," Duo said angrily. None of us were particularly close to the men who facilitated each of ours involvement in the war. Heero had been with his Gundam's creator the longest and that man was particularly evil, in our opinions. The man had practically made his young ward into a robot.

"As far as I know, I was born that way," he explained looking at his best friend, Duo. "Dr. J kept saying how exciting it was to work with something so rare. I've never been able to turn up much information on tengu-human hybrids or even the existance of the species to begin with."

"The tengu are thought to be extinct," Anita said making her presence known. She must have walked up behind us while we were all focussed on the Japanese pilot. "I've never seen any research that suggests that they were able to cross-breed with humans. Demons, as far as I know, can't breed with non-demons."

"Demon?" Jason said moving his body slightly away from our friend. "I thought they were evil."

"Demon is a bad translation of the Japanese word 'youkai'," I explained to the werewolf. "It doesn't hold the same negative connotation that demon does. It basically means supernatural."

"Ah," the blond stripper said looking back over to Yuy. "Sorry. I didn't think you were evil but, well, we can never be too careful around here. We've seen worse."

"What exactly is a tengu?" Quatre asked causing Duo to nod as well.

"A creature that can take the form of a bird of prey, kind of a cross between a large bird and a human," Anita explained. "I learned them in college. They were thought to be extinct like dragons so we don't have much research on them."

"So, Hee-chan," Duo smiled as he sat up to look at his best friend. "Was the name of your Gundam decided before or after they found out what you were? I mean, your gundam having those huge white wings and you being a bird-boy are a little too much to be coincidental."

"It was Dr. J's sick joke," he replied. "He thought it was hilarious."

"Hey, wait, if you're a bird-thingy, does that mean you have wings? Can you fly?" My over exuberant partner said.

"He does have wings," Relena said taking his hand in hers. "He's not very comfortable showing his tengu-side because of all of the experiments that his handler had done on him as a child."

Anita sat down on the grass beside Heero. "It seems that, like the other pilots that I've met, your life has not been easy or anywhere remotely normal."

He just nodded at her so she continued, "As someone who was born different, I just wanted you to know that it's okay."

"Yeah, bro," Duo said. "You're still Heero and if we ever do find any of those mad scientists again, they will have a date with Shinigami."

"Arigato."

"So we really are a flock?" Quatre asked with a mischevious smile.

"Well what else could we call a group consisting of a tengu, a wererat, an empath, the Gods of Death and Justice?" Relena replied joining her smile with Quatre's.

"Hey, I never said that I was Nataku - the god of justice," I explained as an aside to Jason and Anita. "You are confusing me with my wife. I just called my gundam that."

"Close enough," Duo said. "This way, we outrank them! We're both gods!"

We laughed and carried on for a while after that. It was good to all be together - the five of us and Relena. We were just five boys from the colonies who really should have never even met each other except for each of us having the fate of being the five children chosen to pilot the Gundams. We weren't supposed to know about each other as each of us were told that we were the only one. Against all odds, we found each other and became friends and lovers. We became family for each other since we had all lost ours. A pack or a flock as they had taken to calling us was a pretty apt description.

I looked around to the rest of the people gathered at the picnic. There were wererats which were definitely Trowa's family. They accepted him and he felt at home with them. He was one of them. I could see it in how he intereacted with them. Then there was Duo's new family. He had his brother and his brother's extended family. His brother's pard and lovers. They had accepted my partner and myself. They considered both of us family. I was starting to see that they were accepting the rest of the pilots as one of their family as well.

Duo and his brother were also rebuilding their relationship with their aunt and her family. It was a slow process because there were still a lot of hurt feelings and mistrust bur t it was a start. Nathaniel was still struggling the most with that because he did remember his early childhood unlike his brother. He remembered thinking that she would come and rescue him from their torment by their stepfather.

We were all still healing from our pasts. As I was learning from Anita as well, that everyone has demons in their pasts and things that they need to overcome. Ours just seemed to be of the larger than life variety at times. I think it was quite fitting considering the five of us had lived larger than life. Really, who cares if our family was multinational, crossed into space, had a couple of gods, a demon, an lycanthrope, and an empath. We were family.


	35. Chapter 35

Title: Finding What Was Lost

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: 13+

Genre: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Gundam Wing x-over. Basically folks, right after the Eve's War (A.C. 196 in the gundam-verse), the vampires came out of the coffin. So in the Anita-verse, it's post-Incubus Dreams.

Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, 3somes, vampires, were-everythings, zombies, blood, sex, language. (the usual for the two genres)

Pairings: 2x5, 4x3, 1xR and Anita/anything male…. mentions of past 5x1, 4x2x5

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

(Wu Fei POV)

Epilogue

Our jobs took us, Duo and I, away for a while after the trial. For a while, we were both on opposite side of the Earthsphere. I always hate it because I dislike sleeping alone. I know my partner really does not like being away from who he considers family. It used to be, he'd have a hard time being away from myself, Yuy, and the other Gundam Pilots. Since my birthday when we found his natural family, he has been really missing them when he is away from St Louis.

We both try to really keep in touch with Nathaniel, Anita, and Micah. I even get calls occassionally from Jason. The last time that he called, he said that he is still getting requests to have me dance at the club again. I don't know if that will ever happen but I'm pretty sure Duo wants to dance again with his brother. Although, I know that if Duo asked me, I will do it. I can never seem to resist him.

We finally got some leave this fall and are went back to St Louis for a visit. We even stayed at Anita's house for the duration. Nathaniel begged us. It seems I am just as indulgent with him as I am with his brother. It must be those eyes. They both have those impossibly colored eyes. I can't seem to say no when they turn those violet colored irises on me.

Today we are visiting with Duo's Aunt Stacy and her family. We were saddened to learn that Nathaniel has not been keeping in touch with her. I know it has to do with his feelings of abandonment and I don't really blame him. I can understand. I also understand Duo's perspective, too. Duo has lost everyone that he ever loved in childhood so he has been fighting his whole adolescence and adulthood to hold tightly to those he cares about. He's working on forgiving her for leaving them as boys but at the moment, he is soaking up any opportunity he gets to be with family. He found something he lost from childhood so he is holding on to it as tightly as possible.

We were sitting on his aunt's back porch watching her kids play in the yard. Josh was tossing the football around with a couple of neighborhood kids. Duo's younger cousins were busy climbing around in the tree house that their father had built them. It was very peaceful and idyllic which was odd for both Duo and I.

We were having idle conversation with his aunt and uncle. Josh's friends ended up having to go home so he walked back up to the porch to sit with us. He was smiling as his friends said their good byes. Duo had an odd look on his face as he watched them.

"What is it, dear?" His aunt asked him upon noticing his expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah," he said turning to look at her. "I was just thinking."

"'Bout what?" Josh asked plopping himself down on the steps up to the porch.

Duo regarded him for a moment as if he were sizing up an enemy. It was a very calculated look. I can usually read my lover pretty well but at that particular time, I was not sure what he was thinking.

"I was just thinking about myself when I was your age," he replied. "You really are just a kid, aren't you?"

"Hey, now! I'm almost 16!"

Duo laughed at that. It was a rather cynical sound. "No, I know. You're almost an adult. I hated being called a kid when I was your age. I sure as hell didn't feel like one."

"You're really not that much older than me," Josh argued. "Don't talk like you're ancient or something."

"I'm not saying that I'm that much older than you, just that my life was so different from yours. It seems like your biggest worry is that history exam coming up next week or which girl you're going to ask to homecoming. It's just a little different to me."

"Well, homecoming is a big deal," the kid argued still not quite getting the point.

"That's not what Duo's getting at," I explained trying to be helpful. "I think what he is trying to say is that he kind of missed out on all of those big things that normal kids do."

"Oh," his cousin said stopping to think about what I had told him. "What was he doing at my age that was so different than going to school and dating?"

I looked at my partner and he looked at me. We had not really told his family about our involvement in the wars. They had not even seemed to wonder about our young ages being involved in the Preventers. They had just been very accepting of anything that we had told them about ourselves. Duo seemed to be giving me a look that said he want to tell them. It was up to him really what he wanted to share so I just shrugged.

"So you really want to know what I was doing at your age?" He asked his cousin.

"Yeah."

"Well, let's see, this time of year when I was 15," Duo replied biting his lip and thinking. I snorted some because, thinking back, it was the fall of that year that we had first hooked up on the Lunar base. I was really hoping that he wouldn't mention that little detail to his family.

"I think that was right after we were, ahem, on the moon," I suggested to him.

"That's right!" He replied with a waggle of his eyebrows. "I seem to remember a daring escape from the Lunar base with stolen suits."

"They weren't stolen, they were already ours," I contested.

"Well, yeah, but we stole them back."

"I'll give you that."

"You two were on the Lunar base?" Josh asked. "That is so cool! And you escaped by disguising yourself in suits."

"Not those kind of suits, mobile suits," Duo smirked.

"You can pilot mobile suits? That is so cool!"

"Duo," his uncle interrupted our discussion. "You two were in the war, weren't you? That was going on when you were about his age, right?"

"Yeah, we were both pilots in the war," I explained cautiously. "That's how we met."

Stacy was looking at her teenaged son and then back to her nephew. Her lips were pressed tightly together. I watched a lot of emotions wash over her face before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "I'm trying to picture my Joshy, as he is right now, fighting in a war and killing. I just can't do it. Then I look at you, Nicky, I mean, Duo, and I can't see it either. But then, I think about all of the police that I've treated at the trauma unit. I've caught you a couple of times with that same haunted look in your eyes. That hard edge that comes from too many years carrying a gun and having to use it. You really were a soldier who killed in the line of duty. That fact makes me regret even more not saving you from your stepfather as a child. I failed you in so many ways."

"During the wars, I called myself The God of Death," Duo explained. "I had seen so many people die on the colony even before the wars that the Grim Reaper was basically the only god that I believed in. I chose at his age to take up arms to project the other kids on L2 from having to go through what I did. I'm not jealous of Josh growing up in a loving family where he is sheltered from the pain and suffering that I endured. It makes me glad that we accomplished what we did with the wars. Josh and his friends are allowed to be kids instead of watching their friends and families die. They only have to worry about school and dating not infiltration and execution. I may not always like what I have done but I like what I've accomplished."

"I want to know what all you've lived through," his aunt said while hugging him close. "I know it will be difficult for me to hear about the horrors of being a soldier but because I want to hear what you accomplished."

"In time, when I feel ready, I will tell you everything. Just one thing though," Duo replied cheekily. "I was never a soldier. Dear God! Could you picture me taking orders?"

I laughed at that. He was bad enough following directions from Lady Une.

"If you weren't a soldier during the war, what were you?" His uncle asked taking Duo's bait.

"Most people considered me a terrorist!"

"More like a terror," I argued. We bantered back and forth with each other about his antics during the war. We told some stories of his pranks including the ones he pulled on his comrades and the few he actually pulled off against OZ. Duo and his cousin seemed to be plotting some sort of prank they were going to pull on some of Josh's friends. I sat back and listened to them. It was good to see Duo connecting with his family. I suspected that it would still be a long road of healing ahead of them before Duo was ready to tell them all of what he had been through. His family were good people though despite their earlier flaws.

I was hoping that in time, Nathaniel would be able to meet his aunt on common ground. He had told us that he has been in therapy for a while now. I hope that he is able to start to forgive. If he can't, that is his choice though.


End file.
